Not All Family Owners Are Alike. A Conceptual Model, Measurement Instrument, and Self-Assessment Application for Identifying Family Owner Styles
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfb.15.1.2025.21758Keywords:
Family ownership, Family owner style, Family business, Self-assessment, Typology of family ownersAbstract
It is often assumed that family ownership, which consists of individuals who share a common history and values, is homogenous. However, family owners exhibit varied patterns of engagements toward ownership because of differences in their roles, goals, needs and expectations within the family and the business. The research gap lies in the limited understanding of the heterogeneity among family members in relation to ownership. To address this research gap, this article adopts a configurative approach to develop a typology of family owner styles grounded in a psychological perspective and to validate it empirically. The proposed classification model combines two psychological states—agency stewardship intention and harvesting-creation motivation—which identify four distinct family owner styles: Active, Intra-Entrepreneurial, Entrepreneurial, and Detached owners. Additionally, by bridging the gap between academia and practice, this study presents a free access self-assessment online application, enabling family owners to identify their own ownership style.
Downloads
References
Aguilera, R. V., & Jackson, G. (2003). The Cross-National Diversity of Corporate Governance: Dimensions and Determinants. The Academy of Management Review, 28(3), 447–465. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2003.10196772 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/30040732
Aguilera, R. V, & Crespi-Cladera, R. (2016). Global corporate governance: On the relevance of firms’ ownership structure. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.10.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.10.003
Al-Dajani, H., Bang, N. P., Basco, R., Calabrò, A., Cheng, J. C. Y., Clinton, E., … Garcia-Lorenzo, L. (2024). A multi-voiced account of family entrepreneuring research: expanding the agenda of family entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 30(9), 2185–2233. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-05-2023-0516 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-05-2023-0516
Aparicio, G., Ramos, E., Casillas, J. C., & Iturralde, T. (2021). Family business research in the last decade. A bibliometric review. European Journal of Family Business, 11(1), 33–44. https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v11i1.12503 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v11i1.12503
Arteaga, R., & Basco, R. (2023). Disentangling family firm heterogeneity: Evidence from a cross-country analysis. European Journal of Family Business, 13(2), 162–181. https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfb.13.2.2023.17638 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfb.13.2.2023.17638
Baron, J., & Lachenauer, R. (2021). Harvard business review family business handbook: How to build and sustain a successful, enduring enterprise. Harvard Business Press.
Basco, R. (2023). Family Business Management. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003273240 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003273240
Basco, R., Bassetti, T., Muñoz-Bullón, F., & Sanchez-Bueno, M. J. (2023). Euro adoption and intra-European Union exporters’ productivity: Differences between family and non-family firms. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 29(3), 100226. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2023.100226 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2023.100226
Basco, R., & Gómez González, J. (2022). Antecedents of next generation succession intention in family businesses: a cross-country analysis. European Journal of International Management, 1. https://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2022.10051782 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2022.10051782
Basco, R., Rodriguez Escudero, A. I., Martin-Cruz, N., & Barros-Contreras, I. (2021). The combinations of market and non-market strategies that facilitates family firm survival. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 11(3), 245–286. https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2019-0258 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2019-0258
Bernhard, F. (2024). Psychological Ownership (pp. 359–360). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722.ch90 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722.ch90
Bhagat, S., Black, B., & Blair, M. (2004). Relational Investing And Firm Performance. Journal of Financial Research, 27(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6803.2004.00075.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6803.2004.00075.x
Blanco-Mazagatos, V., de Quevedo-Puente, E., & Delgado-García, J. B. (2016). How agency conflict between family managers and family owners affects performance in wholly family-owned firms: A generational perspective. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 7(3), 167–177. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2016.07.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2016.07.003
Borralho, J., & Duarte, M. I. (2022). Determinants of Dividend Payout in Unlisted Spanish Family and Non-Family Firms. European Journal of Family Business, 12(2), 124-136. https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v12i2.14572 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v12i2.14572
Boyd, B. K., & Solarino, A. M. (2016). Ownership of Corporations: A Review, Synthesis, and Research Agenda. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1282–1314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316633746 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316633746
Brockner, J., Higgins, E. T., & Low, M. B. (2004). Regulatory focus theory and the entrepreneurial process. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(03)00007-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(03)00007-7
Broekaert, W., Henssen, B., Lambrecht, J., Debackere, K., & Andries, P. (2018). Limits to psychological ownership in the family business. Journal of Family Business Management, 8(2), 196–216. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-12-2017-0042 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-12-2017-0042
Chrisman, James J. (2019). Stewardship Theory: Realism, Relevance, and Family Firm Governance. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 43(6), 1051–1066. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258719838472 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258719838472
Clark, E. (2022). Your Family Business’s Resiliency Depends on Its Structure. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2022/10/your-family-businesss-resiliency-depends-on-its-structure
Corbetta, G., & Salvato, C. (2004). Self-serving or self-actualizing? Models of man and agency costs in different types of family firms: A commentary on “comparing the agency costs of family and non-family firms: Conceptual issues and exploratory evidence.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28(4), 355–362. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2004.00050.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2004.00050.x
Daily, C. M., Dalton, D. R., & Cannella, A. A. (2003). Introduction to special topic forum corporate governance: Decades of dialogue and data. Academy of Management Review, 28(3), 371–382. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30040727 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/30040727
David, P., O’Brien, J. P., Yoshikawa, T., & Delios, A. (2010). Do Shareholders or Stakeholders Appropriate the Rents from Corporate Diversification? The Influence of Ownership Structure. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 636–654. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.51469005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.51469005
Davis, J. H., Schoorman, F. D., & Donaldson, L. (1997). Toward a stewardship theory of management. Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 20–47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/259223 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/259223
Di Loreto, N. (2024). 5 Kinds of Ownership Roles in a Family Business. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2024/03/5-kinds-of-ownership-roles-in-a-family-business
Dyer, G. (2021). My Forty Years in Studying and Helping Family Businesses. European Journal of Family Business, 11(1), 56-63. https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v11i1.12768 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/ejfbejfb.v11i1.12768
Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 57–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/258191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/258191
Felin, T., Foss, N. J., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). The Microfoundations Movement in Strategy and Organization Theory. Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), 575–632. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2015.1007651 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2015.1007651
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Hair, J. F., Hult, T., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7
Hambrick, Donald C. (1984). Taxonomic Approaches to Studying Strategy: Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues. Journal of Management, 10(1), 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920638401000104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/014920638401000104
Hernandez, M. (2012). Toward an understanding of the psychology of stewarship . Academy of Management Review, 37(2), 172–193. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2010.0363 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2010.0363
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52(12), 1280-1300. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.52.12.1280
Higgins, E. T. (2012). Regulatory focus theory. In Handbook of theories of social psychology, Vol. 1 (pp. 483–504). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249215.n24 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249215.n24
Higgins, E. T., Nakkawita, E., & Cornwell, J. F. M. (2020). Beyond outcomes: How regulatory focus motivates consumer goal pursuit processes. Consumer Psychology Review, 3(1), 76–90. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/arcp.1052 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/arcp.1052
Kallmuenzer, A. (2015). Agency Theory and the Family Business. In M. Nordqvist, L. Melin, M. Waldkirch, & G. Kumeto (Eds.), Theoretical Perspectives on Family Businesses (pp. 57–77). UK: Edward Edgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783479665 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783479665.00011
Ma, X., Yiu, D. W., & Zhou, N. (2014). Facing global economic crisis: Foreign sales, ownership groups, and corporate value. Journal of World Business, 49(1), 87–100. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.02.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.02.002
Madison, K., Holt, D. T., Kellermanns, F. W., & Ranft, A. L. (2016). Viewing Family Firm Behavior and Governance Through the Lens of Agency and Stewardship Theories. Family Business Review, 29(1), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894486515594292 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0894486515594292
Martinez Garcia, I., Boubakri, N., Gomez-Anson, S., & Basco, R. (2022). Ownership Concentration in the Gulf Cooperation Council. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 17(1), 219–252. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-03-2020-0290 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-03-2020-0290
Memili, E., Singal, M., & Barrédy, C. (2016). Family governance and family firm outcomes. Journal of Family Business Management, 6(2), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-05-2016-0010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-05-2016-0010
Meyer, A. D., Tsui, A. S., & Hinings, C. R. (1993). Configurational Approaches to Organizational Analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 36(6), 1175–1195. https://doi.org/10.5465/256809 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/256809
Miller, Danny. (2017). Challenging trends in configuration research: Where are the configurations? Strategic Organization, 16(4), 453–469. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127017729315 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127017729315
Miller, D., & Le Breton-Miller, I. (2006). Family Governance and Firm Performance. Familiy Business Review, 19(1), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6248.2006.00063.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6248.2006.00063.x
Pieper, T. M. (2010). Non solus: Toward a psychology of family business. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1(1), 26–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2010.02.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2010.02.003
Sacristán-Navarro, M., Cabeza-García, L., Basco, R., & Gomez-Anson, S. (2022). It’s all about culture! Institutional context and ownership concentration across Europe. European Management Journal. 40(2), 194-207 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.06.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.06.001
Sacristán-Navarro, M., Martínez-García, I., Basco, R., & Gómez-Ansón, S. (2025). Context matters! Insights into family ownership of listed firms across Europe. Review of Regional Research, 45, 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10037-024-00220-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10037-024-00220-0
Schulze, W. S., Lubatkin, M. H., Dino, R. N., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2001). Agency relationships in family firms: Theory and evidence. Organization Science, 12(2), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.12.2.99.10114 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.12.2.99.10114
Snow, C. C., Miles, R. E., & Miles, G. (2005). A configurational approach to the integration of strategy and organization research. Strategic Organization, 3(4), 431–439. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127005057965 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127005057965
Tàpies, J. (2021). Types of shareholders in family-owned firms. Retrieved from https://blog.iese.edu/family-business/2021/types-of-shareholders-in-family-owned-firms/
Uhlaner, L. M. (2024). Ownership (pp. 320–323). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722.ch80 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800888722.ch80
Verbeke, A., & Kano, L. (2012). The Transaction Cost Economics Theory of the Family Firm: Family-Based Human Asset Specificity and the Bifurcation Bias. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(6), 1183–1205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2012.00545.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2012.00545.x
Villalonga, B., & Amit, R. (2020). Family ownership. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36(2), 241–257. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa007
Zeitoun, H., & Pamini, P. (2017). Relational Ownership and CEO Continuity: A Property Rights Perspective. British Journal of Management, 28(3), 464–480. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12223 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12223
Published
Dimensions
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rodrigo Basco
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright generates two different rights: moral rights and patrimonial rights that EJFB recognizes and respects. Moral rights are those relating to the recognition of the authorship. They are rights of a personal nature that are perpetual, inalienable, unseizable and imprescriptible as consequence of the indivisible union of the author and his/her work. Patrimonial rights are those that can be derived from the reproduction, distribution, adaptation or communication of the work, among others.
Authors who publish in EJFB retain the copyright of their work and grant the right of its first publication to the journal in open access. EJFB is authorized to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or communicate the work under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. This means that you are free to share and adapt this work under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit to its author(s), which implie the right to be reconognized and cited correctly.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
How to Cite
.png){kind=logo}
27.png)
