Abstract
Family decision-makers make strategic choices which span a mixed gamble between non-economic (or socioemotional) and economic reference points, leading to heterogeneous out-comes. By considering family firms’ international acquisitions as mixed gambles, the aim of this article is to theorize and test whether, at different levels of family ownership concentra-tion, family decision-makers are confronted with trade-offs among financial, current and prospective socioemotional wealth (SEW) gains and losses which could lead to differences in their acquisition choices. Furthermore, we explore the moderating role of performance aspirations and family leadership to define the boundary conditions of SEW. Tested on a panel (2000-2014) of Italian family firms, our main findings suggest that family firms with high family ownership concentration show a higher propensity towards international acquisitions when they experience below-target performance and are led by a family CEO, as they prioritize financial and prospective SEW gains, sacrificing current SEW.
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