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Bounded Rationality and Bounded Reliability: A Study of Nonfamily Managers’ Entrepreneurial Behavior in Family Firms

Josip Kotlar^1,2; Philipp Sieger³

¹ Politecnico di Milano School of Management Milan Italy · ² Lancaster University Management School, Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Lancaster, UK · ³ University of Bern, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bern, Switzerland

We use transaction cost economics to explain the individual-level entrepreneurial behavior of family and nonfamily managers in family firms. We argue that nonfamily managers exhibit lower entrepreneurial behavior than family managers, particularly after the founder’s departure from the business. Moreover, we identify an expanded set of factors through which family firms can facilitate nonfamily managers’ entrepreneurial behavior, including monitoring, incentives, distributive justice, access to the top management, and job control perceptions. We test these hypotheses in a sample of 296 family firm managers, contributing new insights on nonfamily managers and corporate entrepreneurship in family firms.

DOI

10.1177/1042258718796085

Volume

43 (2)

Pages

251-273

Language

en

Export

BibTeX

Sources

crossref