Emotional Ownership: The Next Generation's Relationship With the Family Firm

"The Next Generations" in family firms are the key to the survival of the sector, yet gaps remain in the knowledge about their relationship with the firm. This research focuses on the determinants of this relationship. The concept of emotional ownership emerged as an explanatory variable in a qualitative study, followed by a quantitative study, where the authors report the development of a robust measure and identify its key predictors using a large sample. Results include confirmation that emotional ownership is orthogonal to actual ownership, yet an outcome of behaviors, structures, and strategies within the control of families and their firms.