Journal
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS VENTURING
Volume 30, Issue 1, Pages 29-49Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.07.001
Keywords
Transgenerational entrepreneurship; Multi-generation family firms; Qualitative research
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Research shows that family firms are less entrepreneurial, on average, especially after the founder departs. There are notable exceptions, however, and so we build a new theory to explain how these exceptional firms accomplish transgenerational entrepreneurship. Specifically, we conducted indepth interviews with owners and (potential) successors in 21 German wineries that are, on average, in their 11th generation. We introduce entrepreneurial legacy, which we define as the family's rhetorical reconstruction of past entrepreneurial achievements or resilience, and theorize that it motivates incumbent and next-generation owners to engage in strategic activities that foster transgenerational entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial legacy thus helps explain transgenerational entrepreneurship and has implications for family-firm, imprinting, and succession research. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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