Family Owned Business Institute

Research Scholar's Abstracts 2008 - Torsten Pieper, Lucy Ackert, Ann Gillette

Family Ties: For Love or Money?
Torsten M. Pieper, Lucy F. Ackert, Ann B. Gillette
2008

Why do many family owned businesses survive for generations? Though we know that cohesion and family unity play a prominent role, what is the underlying source of solidarity (Poza, 2004)? Recent research indicates that cohesion is multidimensional so that different sources of cohesion can promote different outcomes across groups (Pieper, 2007). Bonding can derive from emotional, intangible forces or from financial, quantitative incentives. In the proposed research, we use an experimental approach to investigate the effects of intangible and quantitative factors on family and business cohesion. An experimental method is used because such an investigation cannot be conducted using data from naturally occurring settings. The ultimate goals are a better understanding of the sources of family cohesion and dissemination of the results in a top finance journal.