Family Firms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: Sources and Impacts of Beliefs and Values

Description

Family firms are characterized by their unique emphasis on specific beliefs and values. However, despite increasing academic interest on this topic, the sources of these be-liefs are largely unstudied. Consequently, we aim to comprehensively examine the religious and secular sources of beliefs in family firms and their impact on the values at the business level. Our integrative literature review clearly indicates that beliefs and values are mostly examined in a one-sided manner. Identifying and tracing beliefs to their actual sources as well as the specific influence of these sources on the values in FFs remains a research gap. We conducted a qualitative-empirical study on the beliefs and values in family firms, primarily based on 21 semi-structured interviews with family firms from the DACH region and a media analysis. Our paper extends the dichotomous view of beliefs and values into a religious and a secular sphere. We differentiate between secular family firms, separators, and integrators which demonstrate the ability to dialogue in the notion of a post-secular society. This paper contributes by means of an interdisciplinary approach, providing a differentiated and comprehensive consideration of beliefs and values in family firms.

Period	17 Jun 2022
Event title	EURAM 2022, European Academy of Management
Event type	Conference
Location	SwitzerlandShow on map