Can non-family firms be more like family firms? Comparing SEW in family and non- family firms.

Abstract

While much of the family-firm literature has been based on the assumption that all family firms are rich in socio-emotional wealth (SEW) and that they aim to preserve this SEW, most studies have considered family firms as a whole, and have ignored the fact that they may differ to a great extent while possessing different levels of SEW. Family firms with low levels of SEW should behave very differently to family firms rich in SEW, and very similarly to non-family firms. Furthermore, certain authors have questioned whether characteristics such as SEW are unique to family firms or if they could be reproduced in non-family firms. Should this be the case, 'pure' family and non-family firms could represent the two extremes of a continuum (Chua, Chrisman&Chang, 2004). In answer to several calls in the literature, we provide arguments to support that certain dimensions of SEW can be extended to non-family firms and that non-family firms also have lessons to learn from certain aspects of family firms in order to take advantage of their benefits. In our empirical analysis based on 370 manufacturing firms, we adapt and validate the FIBER scale for family and non-family firms and analyse its effect on performance