Drivers of Intra-family Conflict and Employee Outcomes in Family Firms

Abstract

Family business are prone to organisational conflicts in general and intra-family conflicts specifically. Drawing arguments from literature on family businesses, organisational behaviour, top management teams and goal setting, this research identifies socio-emotional wealth (SEW) related goal setting and employee bonds to predecessor generations as salient antecedents of intra-family conflict and demonstrates how such conflicts impact non-family employees. Using dyadic survey data, we provide evidence that internal and external dimensions of SEW attenuate and drive intra-family conflict. Employee preferences for predecessor generations are a further driver of intra-family conflict. In turn, intra-family conflict yields negative organisational consequences as it lowers non-family employee job satisfaction and indirectly increases turnover intentions of these employees. The findings of this research contribute to our understanding of intra-family conflicts and SEW related outcomes in family firms. The findings lay the ground for important theoretical and practical implications.