Family business, identity conflict, and an expedited entrepreneurial process: A process of resolving identity conflict

Drawing on Identity Control Theory (ICT) and the literature on social identity, we offer a model of the dynamics associated with competing family and business identities brought into conflict by " family-business" events. We introduce the notion of the family-business role as a distinct identity functioning at the intersection of family and business identities. This meta-level identity " manages" conflict between the family and the business identities, and is formulated and transformed within the family structure. To illustrate the dynamics of the family-business meta-identity, in this article we focus on entrepreneurial opportunities as potentially identity conflict-triggering events and illustrate how and with what impact the meta-identity works to resolve identity conflict at the intersection of family and business so as to expedite the entrepreneurial process. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our model.