IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/intemj/v17y2021i1d10.1007_s11365-020-00732-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stepchildren or prodigal employees? Motives and consequences of employee entrepreneurship in family business

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Ricciardi

    (University of Turin)

  • Elisa Giacosa

    (University of Turin)

  • Francesca Culasso

    (University of Turin)

Abstract

How do factors that are specific of family firms (such as the cross-generational logic) influence, and are influenced by, the phenomenon of employee entrepreneurship? Despite a burgeoning stream on nonfamily members in family firms, the relationship between familiness and employee entrepreneurship has been overlooked that far. This study addresses this gap and explores how familiness co-evolves with employee entrepreneurship in an exemplary longitudinal case involving two enterprises: a family firm founded by an ex-employee spanning 20 years and two generations, and its originating enterprise, a family firm (itself stemming from employee entrepreneurship, as well) spanning 150 years and five generations. The in-depth analysis of this case, based on thick source triangulation and mixed top-down and bottom-up coding, allows us to inductively propose a model of the key attributes of familiness that are relevant to the phenomenon of employee entrepreneurship, and their consequences. The proposed model highlights previously hidden aspects and consequences of familiness, including the perceived role of ex-employees as “prodigal stepchildren”, the cross-generational mirroring effect between the generating firm and the spawn, and the possible role of the new ventures stemming from employee entrepreneurship as sources of inter-generational spill-in processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Ricciardi & Elisa Giacosa & Francesca Culasso, 2021. "Stepchildren or prodigal employees? Motives and consequences of employee entrepreneurship in family business," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 229-247, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:intemj:v:17:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11365-020-00732-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11365-020-00732-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11365-020-00732-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11365-020-00732-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chrisman, James J. & Sharma, Pramodita & Taggar, Simon, 2007. "Family influences on firms: An introduction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 1005-1011, October.
    2. Andersson, Martin & Baltzopoulos, Apostolos & Lööf, Hans, 2012. "R&D strategies and entrepreneurial spawning," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 54-68.
    3. Patrick Raymund James M. Garcia & Pramodita Sharma & Alfredo De Massis & Mike Wright & Louise Scholes, 2019. "Perceived Parental Behaviors and Next-Generation Engagement in Family Firms: A Social Cognitive Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(2), pages 224-243, March.
    4. Randerson, Kathleen & Bettinelli, Cristina & Fayolle, Alain & Anderson, Alistair, 2015. "Family entrepreneurship as a field of research: Exploring its contours and contents," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 143-154.
    5. Memili, Esra & Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Kellermanns, Franz W. & Zellweger, Thomas M. & Barnett, Tim, 2010. "The critical path to family firm success through entrepreneurial risk taking and image," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 200-209, December.
    6. Peter Jaskiewicz & Joern H. Block & James G. Combs & Danny Miller, 2017. "The Effects of Founder and Family Ownership on Hired CEOs’ Incentives and Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 73-103, January.
    7. Astrachan, Joseph H., 2010. "Strategy in family business: Toward a multidimensional research agenda," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 6-14, March.
    8. João J. Ferreira & Vanessa Ratten & Léo-Paul Dana, 2017. "Knowledge spillover-based strategic entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 161-167, March.
    9. Aldrich, Howard E. & Cliff, Jennifer E., 2003. "The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: toward a family embeddedness perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 573-596, September.
    10. Arzubiaga, Unai & Kotlar, Josip & De Massis, Alfredo & Maseda, Amaia & Iturralde, Txomin, 2018. "Entrepreneurial orientation and innovation in family SMEs: Unveiling the (actual) impact of the Board of Directors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 455-469.
    11. Jaskiewicz, Peter & Combs, James G. & Rau, Sabine B., 2015. "Entrepreneurial legacy: Toward a theory of how some family firms nurture transgenerational entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 29-49.
    12. Pieper, Torsten M., 2010. "Non solus: Toward a psychology of family business," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 26-39, March.
    13. Heejung Byun & Joseph Raffiee & Martin Ganco, 2019. "Discontinuities in the Value of Relational Capital: The Effects on Employee Entrepreneurship and Mobility," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1368-1393, November.
    14. Benjamin A. Campbell & Martin Ganco & April M. Franco & Rajshree Agarwal, 2012. "Who leaves, where to, and why worry? employee mobility, entrepreneurship and effects on source firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 65-87, January.
    15. Felipe Hernández-Perlines & Juan Moreno-García & Benito Yáñez-Araque, 2019. "The influence of socioemotional wealth in the entrepreneurial orientation of family businesses," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 523-544, June.
    16. Rajshree Agarwal & Alfonso Gambardella & Daniel M. Olson, 2016. "Employee Mobility and Entrepreneurship A Virtual Special Issue [1]," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 11-21, December.
    17. Jess H. Chua & James J. Chrisman & Pramodita Sharma, 1999. "Defining the Family Business by Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(4), pages 19-39, July.
    18. Webb, Justin W. & Ketchen Jr., David J. & Ireland, R. Duane, 2010. "Strategic entrepreneurship within family-controlled firms: Opportunities and challenges," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 67-77, June.
    19. James Hayton & Gaylen N. Chandler & Dawn R. DeTienne, 2011. "Entrepreneurial opportunity identification and new firm development processes: a comparison of family and non-family new ventures," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 12-31.
    20. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Pramodita Sharma, 2005. "Trends and Directions in the Development of a Strategic Management Theory of the Family Firm," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(5), pages 555-575, September.
    21. Casillas, José C. & Moreno, Ana M. & Barbero, José L., 2011. "Entrepreneurial orientation of family firms: Family and environmental dimensions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 90-100, June.
    22. Fletcher, Denise & Melin, Leif & Gimeno, Alberto, 2012. "Culture and values in family business—A review and suggestions for future research," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 127-131.
    23. Nordqvist, Mattias & Melin, Leif, 2010. "The promise of the strategy as practice perspective for family business strategy research," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 15-25, March.
    24. Manuel Vallejo, 2008. "Is the Culture of Family Firms Really Different? A Value-based Model for Its Survival through Generations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 261-279, August.
    25. Lucía Garcés-Galdeano & Martín Larraza-Kintana & Carmen García-Olaverri & Marianna Makri, 2016. "Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: the moderating role of technological intensity and performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 27-45, March.
    26. 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.
    27. Debicki, Bart J. & Kellermanns, Franz W. & Chrisman, James J. & Pearson, Allison W. & Spencer, Barbara A., 2016. "Development of a socioemotional wealth importance (SEWi) scale for family firm research," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 47-57.
    28. Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Raffaello Balocco, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem research: present debates and future directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1321, December.
    29. Ji Youn (Rose) Kim & H. Kevin Steensma, 2017. "Employee mobility, spin-outs, and knowledge spill-in: How incumbent firms can learn from new ventures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1626-1645, August.
    30. Basco, Rodrigo, 2015. "Family business and regional development—A theoretical model of regional familiness," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 259-271.
    31. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Barton H. Hamilton & Todd R. Zenger, 2010. "The Small Firm Effect and the Entrepreneurial Spawning of Scientists and Engineers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 659-681, April.
    32. Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Miller, Danny & Bares, Franck, 2015. "Governance and entrepreneurship in family firms: Agency, behavioral agency and resource-based comparisons," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 58-62.
    33. Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2007. "Destructive and productive family relationships: A stewardship theory perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 545-565, July.
    34. Andrew M. Pettigrew, 1990. "Longitudinal Field Research on Change: Theory and Practice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3), pages 267-292, August.
    35. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Isabelle Le Breton-Miller & Danny Miller & Lloyd P. Steier, 2018. "Governance Mechanisms and Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(2), pages 171-186, March.
    36. James J. Chrisman & Esra Memili & Kaustav Misra, 2014. "Nonfamily Managers, Family Firms, and the Winner's Curse: The Influence of Noneconomic Goals and Bounded Rationality," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(5), pages 1-25, September.
    37. Habbershon, Timothy G. & Williams, Mary & MacMillan, Ian C., 2003. "A unified systems perspective of family firm performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 451-465, July.
    38. Danny Miller & Isabelle Le Breton‐Miller & Richard H. Lester, 2011. "Family and Lone Founder Ownership and Strategic Behaviour: Social Context, Identity, and Institutional Logics," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 1-25, January.
    39. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.
    40. Johanna Gast & Arndt Werner & Sascha Kraus, 2017. "Antecedents of the small firm effect: the role of knowledge spillover and blocked mobility for employee entrepreneurial intentions," Post-Print hal-02008556, HAL.
    41. Johanna Gast & Arndt Werner & Sascha Kraus, 2017. "Antecedents of the small firm effect: the role of knowledge spillover and blocked mobility for employee entrepreneurial intentions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 277-297, March.
    42. Yang, Hongyan & Steensma, H. Kevin, 2014. "When do firms rely on their knowledge spillover recipients for guidance in exploring unfamiliar knowledge?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1496-1507.
    43. Craig, Justin B. & Dibrell, Clay & Garrett, Robert, 2014. "Examining relationships among family influence, family culture, flexible planning systems, innovativeness and firm performance," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 229-238.
    44. Weismeier-Sammer, Daniela, 2011. "Entrepreneurial behavior in family firms: A replication study," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 128-138.
    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. Criaco, Giuseppe & van Oosterhout, J. (Hans) & Nordqvist, Mattias, 2021. "Is blood always thicker than water? Family firm parents, kinship ties, and the survival of spawns," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).

    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. Barros, Ismael & Hernangómez, Juan & Martin-Cruz, Natalia, 2016. "A theoretical model of strategic management of family firms. A dynamic capabilities approach," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 149-159.
    2. Basco, Rodrigo, 2013. "The family's effect on family firm performance: A model testing the demographic and essence approaches," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 42-66.
    3. Schickinger, Antonia & Bierl, Philipp A. & Leitterstorf, Max P. & Kammerlander, Nadine, 2023. "Family-related goals, entrepreneurial investment behavior, and governance mechanisms of single family offices: An exploratory study," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2).
    4. Goel, Sanjay & Mazzola, Pietro & Phan, Phillip H. & Pieper, Torsten M. & Zachary, Ramona K., 2012. "Strategy, ownership, governance, and socio-psychological perspectives on family businesses from around the world," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 54-65.
    5. Cherchem, Naïma, 2017. "The relationship between organizational culture and entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: Does generational involvement matter?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 87-98.
    6. Reinhard Prügl & Dinah Isabel Spitzley, 2021. "Responding to Digital Transformation by External Corporate Venturing: An Enterprising Family Identity and Communication Patterns Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 135-164, January.
    7. 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).
    8. 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.
    9. Rantanen, Noora & Jussila, Iiro, 2011. "F-CPO: A collective psychological ownership approach to capturing realized family influence on business," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 139-150.
    10. Rajan, Bharath & Salunkhe, Uday & Kumar, V., 2023. "Understanding customer engagement in family firms: A conceptual framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    11. repec:ehu:cuader:52003 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Weismeier-Sammer, Daniela, 2011. "Entrepreneurial behavior in family firms: A replication study," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 128-138.
    13. Van Gils, Anita & Huybrechts, Jolien & Minola, Tommaso & Cassia, Lucio, 2019. "Unraveling the impact of family antecedents on family firm image: A serial multiple-mediation model," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 17-27.
    14. Criaco, Giuseppe & van Oosterhout, J. (Hans) & Nordqvist, Mattias, 2021. "Is blood always thicker than water? Family firm parents, kinship ties, and the survival of spawns," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    15. Arz, Christopher, 2019. "Bridging the micro-macro gap: A multi-layer culture framework for understanding entrepreneurial orientation in family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 1-1.
    16. Debicki, Bart J. & Ramírez-Solís, Edgar Rogelio & Baños-Monroy, Verónica Ilián & Gutiérrez-Patrón, Lilia Magali, 2020. "The impact of strategic focus on relational capital: A comparative study of family and non-family firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 585-598.
    17. Clinton, Eric & McAdam, Maura & Gamble, Jordan Robert, 2018. "Transgenerational entrepreneurial family firms: An examination of the business model construct," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 269-285.
    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. 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.
    20. Sherlock, Chelsea & Dibrell, Clay & Memili, Esra, 2023. "The impact of family commitment on firm innovativeness: The mediating role of resource stocks," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3).
    21. Patricio Duran & Marcelo Ortiz, 2020. "When More Is Better: Multifamily Firms and Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(4), pages 761-783, July.

    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:spr:intemj:v:17:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11365-020-00732-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.