The role of family dynamics and culture in the psychological ownership of family shareholders in family businesses/El papel de la dinamica y cultura familiar en la propiedad psicologica de los accionistas familiares en empresas familiares

• Published in: Cuadernos de administración (Cali, Colombia) Colombia), 2020-09, Vol.36 (68), p.138
• Main Authors: Vergara, Maria Piedad Lopez, Laverde, Isabel C. Botero, Cortes, Diogenes Lagos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0120-4645
• DOI: 10.25100/cdea.v36i68.9786

The purpose of this work is to understand the role of family dynamics and culture in the development of psychological ownership of family shareholders. A qualitative and exploratory approach was used based on the study of 14 cases of Colombian shareholders and 5 cases of Finnish shareholders. The results show that family dynamics create opportunities to a) align expectations of the family concerning the business; b) improve communication between family members; c) consolidate common values in the family; and d), promote identification with the company. These opportunities foster the intention that family shareholders have to exercise control over the company, invest more time in it and, therefore, obtain a better understanding of it, which promotes the development of psychological ownership. When the two contexts were compared, it was found that the level of collectivism and individualism in each culture permeates the opportunities generated by family dynamics. In this sense, similarities were found regarding the alignment of expectations, communication, and interaction between family members, and identification with the company. On the other hand, it was observed that the dynamics that promote identification with the company through parents' messages and the handling of different opinions generate a favorable environment that encourages psychological ownership in the Colombian case, but not in the Finnish one. Keywords: Psychological ownership, Family shareholders, Family dynamics, Family business, Culture. El objetivo de este trabajo es entender el rol de las dinámicas familiares y la cultura en el desarrollo de la propiedad psicológica en accionistas familiares. Se usó un enfoque cualitativo y exploratorio basado en el estudio de 14 casos de accionistas colombianos y 5 finlandeses. Los resultados muestran que las dinámicas familiares crean oportunidades para: a) alinear expectativas de la familia frente a la empresa; b) mejorar la comunicación entre miembros de la familia; c) consolidar valores comunes en la familia; y d) promover la identificación del accionista con la empresa. Estas oportunidades promueven la intención que tienen los accionistas familiares de ejercer control sobre la empresa, invertir más tiempo en la misma y, por lo tanto, obtener un mejor conocimiento de ella, lo cual promueve el desarrollo de la propiedad psicológica. Cuando se compararon los dos contextos, se encontró que el nivel de colectivismo e individualismo en cada cultura p