The Role and Impact of Emotions in Family Business Strategy
Guest Editors:
Cristina Cruz, PhD (IE Business School, Madrid)
Clay Dibrell, PhD (University of Mississippi)
Franz Kellermanns, PhD (University of Tennessee at Knoxville and WHU)
Submission Deadline: April 15
Emotions have gained only recent attention in the family business field, as scholars recognized the "strong emotional overtone" of family business. By their own nature, families are characterized by a wide a range of emotions that result from daily situations and are not static, as they emerge and evolve through more or less critical events in each family business system (e.g., succession, divorce, illness, etc.). To account for this unique aspect of family firms, many constructs have been proposed in recent years such as emotional capital, emotional ownership, emotional value, emotional returns or socioemotional wealth (SEW). Scholars may not agree on the term but they do agree on a key aspect: because the boundaries between family and the firm are rather blurred in family businesses, these emotions permeate the organization ultimately affecting how the firm conducts its activities. However, the inclusion of emotions in the analysis of strategic decision making in family firms is in its infancy. For example, the development of the SEW approach seems to provide a suitable perspective for advancing the field in this direction. But more research is needed to show the validity of this approach and to further enhance our understanding of the role of emotions in the strategic decision making process of the family firm.
This Special Issue welcomes studies both, on the analysis of the role of emotions on the strategic decision process as well as studies focused on the outcomes of such an influence. We will consider both quantitative and qualitative empirical research, as well as conceptual papers and reviews of extant theory and literature. We strongly encourage
cross-disciplinary approaches that advance the theoretical understanding of the role of emotions in family business.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to the following:
1. MEASUREMENT
a. How to measure the impact of emotions in strategic decision making in family firms?
b. Is it possible to identify different types of emotions affecting the strategic decision making process in family firms?
c. Is it possible to classify the emotions affecting the strategic decision making process in family firms?
2. FAMILY FIRMS' HETEROGENEITY
a. Does the intensity and/or type of emotions in strategic decision making differ among generations of family firms?
b. Does the intensity and/or type of emotions in strategic decision making differ between privately held and publicly traded family firms?
c. Is the role of emotions in family business strategy different among countries?
3. RISK PREFERENCES AND RISK TAKING
a. How do emotions affect reference point formation in family firms?
b. How do emotions impact risk taking in family firms?
c. Are risk preferences different depending on the influence of emotions in strategic decision-making?
d. To what extent does the temporality of an emotional event influence the risk preferences of strategic decision makers?
4. PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES
a. Under which conditions, is the presence of emotions in the strategic decision making process beneficial for firm performance?
b. How do emotions influence the aspirant level of firm performance for family firms?
c. How do emotional events (e.g., succession, divorce, illness) influence family firm performance outcomes?
5. GOVERNANCE
a. How is the impact of governance mechanisms (e.g., board, incentives, blockholders) affected by the presence of emotions in family business strategy?
b. How do emotions affect agency costs in family firms? Which emotions reduce agency costs in family firms? Which emotions increase agency costs in family firms?
c. May negative emotions exhibited by the family be constrained only to the family and not influence the family firm? If so, what governance mechanisms affectively reduce the effects of these negative family emotions on the family firm?
6. IMPACT ON STAKEHOLDERS
a. Under which conditions is the presence of emotions in the strategic process, may the preservation of SEW by controlling families be beneficial for other shareholders?
b. How does the presence of emotions in the strategic process affect other stakeholders (i.e., clients, suppliers, communities)?
c. Is the impact of emotions in family business perceived differently by different stakeholders?
Manuscripts may be submitted online at http://www.ees.elsevier.com/jfbs any time prior to the deadline of April 15, 2013 and will begin their respective double-blind review process immediately after submission. To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for consideration for this Special Issue, it is important that authors select 'Emotions & Strategy' when they reach the "Article Type" step in the submission process.
For questions regarding submissions or the content of this Special Issue, authors are welcome to write to one of the guest editors: Cristina Cruz (cristina.cruz@ie.edu), Clay Dibrell (cdibrell@bus.olemiss.edu) or Franz Kellermanns (kellermanns@utk.edu). For general questions or inquiries about JFBS, please contact the Assistant Editor, Torsten
Pieper, via tpieper@kennesaw.edu or +1 (770) 423-6724.
Anticipated timeline for this Special Issue
‐ April 15, 2013: Deadline for all submissions
‐ August 1, 2013: First-round reviews to be sent to authors
‐ November 1, 2013: Authors to resubmit revised papers
‐ February 1, 2014: Second-round reviews sent to authors
‐ April 1, 2014: Authors to resubmit final revised papers
‐ July 1, 2014: Guest editors make final acceptance decisions
‐ September 1, 2014: Tentative publication of the Special Issue
About the Journal
The Journal of Family Business Strategy (JFBS) publishes research that contributes new knowledge and understanding to the field of family business. The Journal is interdisciplinary and international in scope and welcomes submissions that address all aspects of how family influences business and business influences family. JFBS publishes quantitative research as well as qualitative work and purely theoretical or conceptual papers. No matter which methodological approach, research published in JFBS meets the highest standards for rigorous and excellent research. Further details on JFBS can be obtained from http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jfbs or by contacting the Assistant Editor, Torsten Pieper, via tpieper@kennesaw.edu.