We are a family, not a charity – How do family and business logics shape environmental sustainability strategies? A cross-sectional qualitative study

Abstract

Researchers assume that either family or business logic dominate the development of environmental sustainability strategies in family firms. The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize this assumption by conducting a cross-sectional qualitative study based on 29 in-depth interviews with family members and C-level managers of eight large German family firms. Additional focus groups validated our results. Using the dominant logic perspective of institutional theory and the concept of socioemotional wealth, we analyzed the interplay of family and business logic and their influence on forming an environmental sustainability strategy. The results indicate that a business logic dominates the environmental sustainability strategy process while the family logic reenforces this dominant logic. We present our empirical findings in a model that shows how and why the family logic (socioemotional wealth) shapes the dominating business logic by adding its unique flavor at various stages. This study proposes not two conflicting logics (family vs. business), but a new emerging logic: the family business logic. Our study opens new ways to understand the strategy formation processes in family firms.