Looking in the Other Direction: An Ethnographic Analysis of How Family Businesses Can Be Operated to Enhance Familial Well-Being

Onnolee Nordstrom and Jennifer E. Jennings

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2018, vol. 42, issue 2, 317-339

Abstract: While much family business research has examined how family ownership affects businesses, this paper raises a question consistent with enquiries in the latter direction: How can family firms be operated to enhance the well-being of owning families and their members? We address this question by analyzing ethnographic data collected from an “extreme case†of both family enterprising and familial well-being: Hutterite colonies in Western Canada. Our findings suggest three enterprise-level strategies and three task-level practices that strengthen family member satisfaction and family system effectiveness.

Keywords: family business; familial well-being; synergistic perspective; ethnography; Hutterites (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:entthe:v:42:y:2018:i:2:p:317-339

DOI: 10.1177/1042258717749236

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