Purpose This paper examines how family ownership logic shapes social and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategies in family firms. It conceptualises family ownership logic as a purpose-driven and relational configuration combining ownership competences, stakeholder embeddedness and socioemotional as well as reputational commitments and explores how this configuration varies across contrasting institutional contexts. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a sequential mixed-methods design. It combines 18 semi-structured interviews with owners and managers and a survey of 198 family firms (100 in Poland, 98 in Germany) operating in two contrasting institutional settings: a coordinated market economy and a hybrid post-transitional economy. Findings The findings show that family firms differ not only in the intensity of their social or ESG engagement, but more importantly in the configurations through which ownership is enacted. Two dominant patterns emerge: a relational-interventionist logic, rooted in local ties, family identity and informal stakeholder commitments, which is more likely to generate community-oriented and ad hoc social interventions, and a continuity-oriented logic, based on stronger ownership competences, longer planning horizons and greater institutional trust, which is more likely to support formalised CSR and sustainable development strategies. Research limitations/implications The relatively small and non-representative German subsample, together with the cross-sectional design, limits the generalisability of the findings. The study nevertheless suggests that research on family firms, ownership and sustainability should move beyond additive explanations and analyse how configurations of resources, relationships and norms generate different strategic outcomes under different legitimacy and institutional conditions. Practical implications The findings indicate that owner families can strengthen their social and ESG strategies by consciously developing ownership competences through clearer governance arrangements, stronger articulation of purpose and more systematic stakeholder mapping. They also suggest that support mechanisms should be adapted to institutional context: low-bureaucracy, relationship-oriented instruments may be more effective in hybrid settings, whereas more formalised partnership and ESG integration tools are better suited to coordinated market economies. Social implications The study highlights the role of family firms as socially embedded actors whose contributions to communities depend on how family ownership is configured and legitimised. In weaker institutional environments, family firms may act as local stabilisers through informal and relational engagement, while in more institutionalised settings they can become long-term partners in structured sustainability agendas. Originality/value The paper advances family business research by developing a configurational account of family ownership logic that links ownership competences, relational embeddedness and purpose to distinct patterns of social and ESG engagement. It also shows how these configurations vary across different varieties of capitalism, thereby connecting family business research more directly with debates on ownership, legitimacy and sustainability.
Purpose Research on next-generation commitment in family firms has largely focused on Western contexts and has paid limited attention to how commitment evolves over time and across different family roles. This paper examines how next-generation family members in Ethiopia develop, sustain, or discontinue their commitment to the family business, and how different forms of commitment shape decisions to remain in or exit from the family business. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative, retrospective processual multiple-case design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and archival materials from three Ethiopian family firms, involving eight next-generation members (children and extended family members). The analysis follows a theory-building approach to trace changes in affective, normative, and continuance commitment over time. Findings The findings show that next-generation commitment is dynamic and evolves in response to personal life events, family dynamics, and dominant socio-cultural norms. Children's and young extended family members' initial engagement is largely driven by normative commitment. However, adult unemployed extended family members are driven by continuance commitment. Over time, both children and extended family members developed affective commitment by via multiple work experience and responsibility. With the passage of time, factors such as workload, exclusion from ownership and decision-making, marriage, and sibling rivalry erode next-generations’ affective commitment and contribute to exit decisions. Ironically, owners' provision of assets to married children (birthright) and extended family members (contingent on performance) to sustain commitment in the family business often create conditions to facilitate independent venturing and de-commitment. Originality/value This study advances successor commitment research by demonstrating the evolving and context-dependent nature commitment in family firms. By incorporating extended family members and offering an indigenous African perspective, it addresses the Western bias in family business research and highlights the importance of institutional and cultural context in shaping next-generation engagement and exit.
Purpose This study investigates the socioemotional wealth model in which identification of family members with the firm, their emotional attachment to the firm, and renewal of family bonds through dynastic succession mediate the relationship between family control and influence and firm performance. Drawing on Upper Echelons Theory as a theoretical rationale, we argue that family control relates to affective, relational, and temporal orientations in family firms that, in turn, shape firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The study uses cross-sectional data from 252 family businesses across five Western Balkan countries awaiting accession to the European Union. Data were collected using convenience sampling and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Among socioemotional wealth dimensions, only the binding social ties dimension was excluded during pretesting because it did not demonstrate acceptable reliability and validity. Findings Results show that the extent of family control and influence is positively related to identification of family members with the firm, their emotional attachment to the firm, and renewal of family bonds through the dynastic succession. Further, identification of family members with the firm and renewal of family bonds through dynastic succession positively relate to family firm performance. Finally, the results indicate that identification of family members with the firm mediates the relationship between family control and influence and family firm performance. Originality/value The study utilizes the reduced FIBER scale (FIER) to capture the socioemotional wealth in an underresearched European context, while combining the socioemotional wealth model and Upper Echelons Theory to explain the capacity-orientation-outcome model in which family's discretion in decision-making stemming from family control and influence relates to family-centric orientations, shaping family firm performance.
