Longevity of family firms - the influence of family specific characteristics

Family businesses represent a unique form of enterprise that is inimitable. They differ from non-family businesses and are characterized by heterogeneity within their group. This uniqueness is due to the influence and characteristics of the family.
The complex influence of the family can be analyzed and illustrated by using the multidimensional constructs “familiness” and “socioemotional wealth”. Thereby, the concept of familiness reflects the unique resources and decision premises of the family business, created through the interaction of the family, members of the business, and the business. Socioemotional wealth addresses the non-financial aspects of the business that fulfill the affective needs of the family. Therefore, to understand family businesses, the family‘s actions and influences on the business must be understood.
Family characteristics alone cannot determine the longevity of the family business. Instead, the family’s influence on strategic business decisions and crucial situations determine the longevity of the family business. To gain further insights regarding family characteristics, this dissertation examines the influence of family characteristics on corporate social responsibility, absorptive capacity, and post-succession performance. Since it is known from the literature that these factors can influence and favor the longevity of the family business, the correlations of the analyses of this dissertation are used to derive how they can influence the longevity of the family business.