We Are Friends but Are We Family? Organizational Identification and Nonfamily Employee Turnover

James M. Vardaman, David G. Allen and Bryan L. Rogers

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2018, vol. 42, issue 2, 290-309

Abstract: The family-centric priorities of family firms often disadvantage nonfamily employees and make retaining them problematic. Our study posits organizational identification, or internalizing the firm's identity as one's own, as a key factor in overcoming this challenge. We adopt a social network perspective to examine the differential impact of friendships with family and nonfamily members on nonfamily employees' organizational identification and turnover. Results from a study of the nonfamily employees of a family-owned service company show that centrality in both family and nonfamily friendship networks reduces turnover, but that friendships with family members have a stronger effect. Results also show that various forms of centrality in social networks have indirect effects on turnover through organizational identification, highlighting identification's importance for retaining nonfamily employees.

Keywords: family business; nonfamily employees; organizational identification; retention; Simmelian ties; social networks; turnover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:entthe:v:42:y:2018:i:2:p:290-309

DOI: 10.1177/1042258717749235

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