 Trapped in a “golden cage”! The legitimation of women leadership in family businessAndrea Calabrò, Elisa Conti and Stefania Masè Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2024, vol. 15, issue 2 Abstract: In family businesses, women who belong to the owning family are increasingly appointed to leadership positions. Nevertheless, their managerial roles do not overlap well with their multiple family roles and family expectations, and they are often trapped in a “golden cage.” Drawing on a multilevel view of legitimacy, we analyze twenty-one in-depth interviews with CEOs, managing directors, and cofounders of family firms to untap the legitimation of women’s leadership. We propose a framework that explores the types of judgments (instrumental, relational, and moral) underpinning such a process. Our findings suggest that multiple role empowerment of women and exposure of daughters to family businesses increase legitimacy, whereas hiding family identities and role conflicts hinder it. The role carry-over that mothers have as chief emotional officers and an organizational context promoting gender equality indirectly contribute to the legitimation of women as leaders. Keywords: Women; Family business; Legitimacy; Judgments; Multiple roles; Stereotypes (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:15:y:2024:i:2:s1877858523000189 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2023.100569 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Family Business Strategy is currently edited by J.H. Astrachan More articles in Journal of Family Business Strategy from Elsevier |
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