 Unrelated but together: Trust and intergroup relations in multi-family businessesJerry Kudlats, William C. McDowell and Raj V. Mahto Journal of Business Research, 2019, vol. 101, issue C, 750-756 Abstract: While family businesses are the dominant form of enterprise in most economies, multi-family businesses with two or more unrelated founding families are not common in the family business environment. The involvement of family in a firm makes these entities and their operations more complex; managing a family firm with multiple unrelated families is even more challenging due to their higher susceptibility to inter- and intra-family conflicts. In this study, we examine why some multi-family businesses are able to avoid or manage intergroup conflicts, and how multi-family businesses can work harmoniously. We utilize a qualitative and grounded theory approach to explore five multi-family businesses using in-depth interviews with nineteen organizational members. Our analysis indicates that trust within and between families emerges as a core construct for these entities. We present a theoretical framework that explains the antecedents and outcomes of this trust and a moderating effect on the antecedent-trust relationship. Keywords: Multi-family businesses; Trust; Grounded theory; Intergroup relations (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:jbrese:v:101:y:2019:i:c:p:750-756 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.073 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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