The humanistic state in family firms: Exploring the significance of socioemotional wealth and culture as drivers of stewardship

This study investigates the interplay between stewardship and socioemotional wealth (SEW) in family firms. We examined how family control and influence, and family members’ identification, as key SEW dimensions impacted family-firm stewardship. We further investigated these relationships, hypothesizing that they are contingent on power distance and uncertainty avoidance as relevant cultural dimensions. Hypotheses were tested using a survey dataset of 2,439 family firms across 70 countries. The results reveal that family control and influence, and family members’ identification, respectively reflecting the legal and psychological ownership of the business family aiming to protect its SEW, are positively associated with stewardship family-oriented goals. We also found that the positive impact of business family psychological ownership on stewardship family-oriented goals became weaker in cultures characterized by high power distance. For those embedded in high uncertainty avoidance cultures, the positive impact of business family legal ownership on stewardship family-oriented goals is stronger.