IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipg/wpaper/2019-015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

In a Family Way? A Model of Family Firm Identity Maintenance by Non-Family Members

Author

Listed:
  • Julia VINCENT PONROY
  • Patrick LÊ
  • Camille PRADIES

Abstract

Focusing on the case of a successful French pharmaceutical family firm ? VetCo, we develop a process model of family firm identity maintenance by non-family members. Being the first family-owned pharmaceutical actor exclusively dedicated to animal health worldwide, VetCo has a strong family firm identity. The maintenance of this identity is remarkable, as VetCo experienced a withdrawal of the owning family when its founder suddenly passed away and, later on, when other family members disengaged from operations. Using grounded theory, we build a process model of identity maintenance that emphasizes meaning multiplicity. Specifically, we identify three main mechanisms of meaning preservation ? passing on the family legacy, unifying the metaphorical family, and modeling the family business ? and two mechanisms of meaning connection ? holding on and bridging. In elaborating theory on family firm identity maintenance, this study contributes to family business and organizational identity scholarships.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia VINCENT PONROY & Patrick LÊ & Camille PRADIES, 2019. "In a Family Way? A Model of Family Firm Identity Maintenance by Non-Family Members," Working Papers 2019-015, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2019-015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://faculty-research.ipag.edu/wp-content/uploads/recherche/WP/IPAG_WP_2019_015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Spee & Paula Jarzabkowski, 2017. "Agreeing on What? Creating Joint Accounts of Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 152-176, February.
    2. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    3. Zellweger, Thomas M. & Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2010. "Exploring the concept of familiness: Introducing family firm identity," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 54-63, March.
    4. Sieger, Philipp & Bernhard, Fabian & Frey, Urs, 2011. "Affective commitment and job satisfaction among non-family employees: Investigating the roles of justice perceptions and psychological ownership," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 78-89, June.
    5. Jean‐Luc Arregle & Michael A. Hitt & David G. Sirmon & Philippe Very, 2007. "The Development of Organizational Social Capital: Attributes of Family Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 73-95, January.
    6. Chamu Sundaramurthy & Glen E. Kreiner, 2008. "Governing by Managing Identity Boundaries: The Case of Family Businesses," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(3), pages 415-436, May.
    7. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    8. Jean-Luc Arrègle & Michael Hitt & David Sirmon & Philippe Véry, 2007. "The Development of Organizational Social Capital : Attributes of Family Firms," Post-Print hal-02312687, HAL.
    9. Elena Dalpiaz & Paul Tracey & Nelson Phillips, 2014. "Succession Narratives in Family Business: The Case of Alessi," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(6), pages 1375-1394, November.
    10. Tim Barnett & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2006. "Are We Family and Are We Treated as Family? Nonfamily Employees’ Perceptions of Justice in the Family Firm," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(6), pages 837-854, November.
    11. D. Ravasi & A. Canato, 2013. "How do I know who you think you are? A review of research methods on organizational identity," Post-Print hal-00845428, HAL.
    12. Andrew D. Brown & Michael Humphreys, 2006. "Organizational Identity and Place: A Discursive Exploration of Hegemony and Resistance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 231-257, March.
    13. W. Gibb Dyer Jr. & David A. Whetten, 2006. "Family Firms and Social Responsibility: Preliminary Evidence from the S&P 500," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(6), pages 785-802, November.
    14. Chahrazad Abdallah & Ann Langley, 2014. "The Double Edge of Ambiguity in Strategic Planning," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 235-264, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bövers, Jana & Hoon, Christina, 2021. "Surviving disruptive change: The role of history in aligning strategy and identity in family businesses," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4).
    2. Zahra, Shaker A., 2022. "International entrepreneurship by family firms post Covid," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2).
    3. Burton, Nicholas & Vu, Mai Chi & Cruz, Allan Discua, 2022. "Our social legacy will go on: Understanding outcomes of family SME succession through engaged Buddhism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 105-118.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bargoni, Augusto & Alon, Ilan & Ferraris, Alberto, 2023. "A systematic review of family business and consumer behaviour," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Unai Arzubiaga & Amaia Maseda & Txomin Iturralde, 2019. "Exploratory and exploitative innovation in family businesses: the moderating role of the family firm image and family involvement in top management," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-31, February.
    3. Gottschalck, Nicole & Guenther, Christina & Kellermanns, Franz, 2020. "For whom are family-owned firms good employers? An exploratory study of the turnover intentions of blue- and white-collar workers in family-owned and non-family-owned firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3).
    4. Pittino, Daniel & Visintin, Francesca & Lenger, Tamara & Sternad, Dietmar, 2016. "Are high performance work practices really necessary in family SMEs? An analysis of the impact on employee retention," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 75-89.
    5. Brinkerink, Jasper & Rondi, Emanuela & Benedetti, Carlotta & Arzubiaga, Unai, 2020. "Family business or business family? Organizational identity elasticity and strategic responses to disruptive innovation," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4).
    6. Martina Sageder & Christine Mitter & Birgit Feldbauer‐Durstmüller, 2018. "Image and reputation of family firms: a systematic literature review of the state of research," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 335-377, January.
    7. Ramos, Hazel Melanie & Man, Thomas Wing Yan & Mustafa, Michael & Ng, Zuie Zuie, 2014. "Psychological ownership in small family firms: Family and non-family employees’ work attitudes and behaviours," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 300-311.
    8. Zellweger, Thomas M. & Kellermanns, Franz W. & Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Memili, Esra, 2012. "Building a family firm image: How family firms capitalize on their family ties," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 239-250.
    9. Kyuho Jin & Joowon Lee & Sung Min Hong, 2021. "The Dark Side of Managing for the Long Run: Examining When Family Firms Create Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, March.
    10. Alexandra Bertschi-Michel & Philipp Sieger & Thomas Wittig & Andreas Hack, 2023. "Sacrifice, Protect, and Hope for the Best: Family Ownership, Turnaround Moves, and Crisis Survival," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1132-1168, July.
    11. Gianluca Ginesti & Mario Ossorio, 2021. "The influence of family-related factors on intellectual capital performance in family businesses," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 535-560, June.
    12. Azouz, Ali & Antheaume, Nicolas & Charles-Pauvers, Brigitte, 2021. "An Ethnography of Fairness Perceptions among Non-Family Employees: Does Religion Matter?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3).
    13. Elsbach, Kimberly D. & Pieper, Torsten M., 2019. "How psychological needs motivate family firm identifications and identifiers: A framework and future research agenda," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 1-1.
    14. Dawson, Alexandra & Mussolino, Donata, 2014. "Exploring what makes family firms different: Discrete or overlapping constructs in the literature?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 169-183.
    15. Waterwall, Brian & Alipour, Kent K., 2021. "Nonfamily employees’ perceptions of treatment in family businesses: Implications for organizational attraction, job pursuit intentions, work attitudes, and turnover intentions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3).
    16. McGuire, Jean & Dow, Sandra & Ibrahim, Bakr, 2012. "All in the family? Social performance and corporate governance in the family firm," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1643-1650.
    17. Rafaela Gjergji & Luigi Vena & Salvatore Sciascia & Alessandro Cortesi, 2021. "The effects of environmental, social and governance disclosure on the cost of capital in small and medium enterprises: The role of family business status," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 683-693, January.
    18. Mazzi, Chiara, 2011. "Family business and financial performance: Current state of knowledge and future research challenges," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 166-181.
    19. Réal Labelle & Taïeb Hafsi & Claude Francoeur & Walid Ben Amar, 2018. "Family Firms’ Corporate Social Performance: A Calculated Quest for Socioemotional Wealth," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 511-525, March.
    20. Henssen, Bart & Voordeckers, Wim & Lambrechts, Frank & Koiranen, Matti, 2014. "The CEO autonomy–stewardship behavior relationship in family firms: The mediating role of psychological ownership," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 312-322.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    null;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2019-015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ingmar Schumacher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipagpfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.