Family orientation: Individual-level influences on family firm outcomes

G. T. Lumpkin, Wendy Martin, Marsha Vaughn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

160 Scopus citations

Abstract

The premise of this article is that to understand how family affects business, the issue of how individual family members relate to the family must also be addressed. To that end, we propose family orientation (FO) to assess the extent to which individuals perceive and value family involvement. Drawing on the family therapy literature, including Bowen's family systems theory and contextual family therapy, we identify and develop five dimensions of FO-tradition, stability, loyalty, trust, and interdependency. We also discuss factors that might affect an individual's FO score, how FO might enhance understanding of other family business processes and practices, and future research directions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)127-138
Number of pages12
JournalFamily Business Review
Volume21
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous)
  • Finance

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