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The study of organizational behavior in family business

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>2014
<mark>Journal</mark>European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
Issue number5
Volume23
Number of pages14
Pages (from-to)643-656
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Family businesses (FB) – enterprises that are significantly influenced by family members and kinship ties - are ubiquitous and play a crucial role across all world economies. Because of the embeddedness of family and business systems in FB, these organizational forms are theoretically distinct from their non-family counterparts. Curiously, FBs have been largely overlooked in the organizational behavior (OB) literature. The limited available research at the interface of OB and FB highlights the importance of family business as a unique context to advance OB theories, and of OB as a promising discipline to increase our understanding of FB. In a selective review of literature focused on the four topics of values and goals, leadership and power, trust and justice, and conflict, we discuss how insights from the general theory of communal and exchange relationships open exciting avenues for research at the FB-OB interface. Rich fruits of intellectual harvest await scholars who focus on behavioral research in FB.