TY - JOUR
T1 - The Social Embeddedness of Socioemotional Wealth
T2 - A Review and Future Research Agenda
AU - Heo, Yoonjeoung
AU - Chung, Chi Nien
AU - Chen, Danyang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Research Questions/Issues: Scholarly interest in family firm governance and its strategic decision-making has increased since the invention of socioemotional wealth (SEW). However, the widespread use of the SEW concept raises concerns on its reification and tautology. To address these concerns, we propose analyzing the social embeddedness of family firms to shed light on SEW-driven governance practices and decision-making. Research Findings: Our two-step method reviewed 85 papers utilizing social network perspectives, institutional theory, and SEW concepts. Our analysis demonstrates that integrating social embeddedness into SEW can help clarify the origins of SEW and its impact on decision-making and governance and practices within family firms. Nonetheless, our analysis also highlights research gaps that future studies should address. Theoretical Implications: By integrating the social embeddedness perspective with SEW, we offer a novel framework that systematically illustrates the social rationales underpinning diverse SEW-driven behaviors and the evolution of governance practices in family firms. This framework, drawing from social network and institutional theory, elucidates the formation of SEW as driven by multidimensional social motivations, thus reconciling mixed findings from previous SEW research. Furthermore, our review provides a comprehensive research agenda for future studies in family business and corporate governance, encouraging exploration of multiple institutional logics, social networks, and their confounding effects on the SEW of family businesses. Practical Implications: Our findings guide financial investors and nonfinancial stakeholders to better comprehend family firms' economic and noneconomic concerns, their distinct strategic behaviors from other firms, and their hybrid governance practices. Our discussion suggests practitioners incorporating social context of controlling families into decision.
AB - Research Questions/Issues: Scholarly interest in family firm governance and its strategic decision-making has increased since the invention of socioemotional wealth (SEW). However, the widespread use of the SEW concept raises concerns on its reification and tautology. To address these concerns, we propose analyzing the social embeddedness of family firms to shed light on SEW-driven governance practices and decision-making. Research Findings: Our two-step method reviewed 85 papers utilizing social network perspectives, institutional theory, and SEW concepts. Our analysis demonstrates that integrating social embeddedness into SEW can help clarify the origins of SEW and its impact on decision-making and governance and practices within family firms. Nonetheless, our analysis also highlights research gaps that future studies should address. Theoretical Implications: By integrating the social embeddedness perspective with SEW, we offer a novel framework that systematically illustrates the social rationales underpinning diverse SEW-driven behaviors and the evolution of governance practices in family firms. This framework, drawing from social network and institutional theory, elucidates the formation of SEW as driven by multidimensional social motivations, thus reconciling mixed findings from previous SEW research. Furthermore, our review provides a comprehensive research agenda for future studies in family business and corporate governance, encouraging exploration of multiple institutional logics, social networks, and their confounding effects on the SEW of family businesses. Practical Implications: Our findings guide financial investors and nonfinancial stakeholders to better comprehend family firms' economic and noneconomic concerns, their distinct strategic behaviors from other firms, and their hybrid governance practices. Our discussion suggests practitioners incorporating social context of controlling families into decision.
KW - corporate governance
KW - family firm
KW - institutional theory
KW - social embeddedness
KW - social network
KW - socioemotional wealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213321954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/corg.12633
DO - 10.1111/corg.12633
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85213321954
SN - 0964-8410
JO - Corporate Governance: An International Review
JF - Corporate Governance: An International Review
ER -