Female leadership in contemporary Chinese family firms

Abstract

Drawing on a case study of a three-generation family business, this paper explores the antecedents and consequences of female leadership in contemporary Chinese family business. Our findings suggest that institutional change in contemporary China affects the role of female family members in the family system, which eventually gave rise to female leadership in China's family businesses. We also propose that in comparison to male leadership, female leadership in Chinese family business is more concerned with balancing work-family conflict; more dependent upon the family's endowment of resources; and more likely to favor a participative (rather than authoritative) decisionmaking style.

Negotiating the female successor–leader role within family business succession in China

“…Stability and harmony are derived from family member acceptance of unequal relationships: older generations have absolute authority and control over younger generations, and men over women (Hwang, 2012). Male heirs are privileged in Chinese family business (Chen et al, 2018), with daughters rarely involved in major decision making. Moreover, the collectivist principles of Confucianism mean that harmony must characterise all interpersonal (including business) relationships (Sison et al, 2020).…”

“…Accordingly, this article explores the approaches of identity construction used by Chinese daughters while negotiating the successor-leader role within family businesses in China. We argue that China is an important context in which to explore this, as 'family' refers to the 'extended family' (Chen et al, 2018;Yan and Sorenson, 2006) and Confucian family values 1 emphasise hierarchy and women's obedience to men. Indeed, the Western 'nuclear family' model still dominates family business research (Alrubaishi et al, 2020;Byrne et al, 2018), resulting in a lack of understanding regarding important differences in family structure across cultures (Mussolino et al, 2019).…”

“…In contrast to nuclear families in the West, Chinese Confucian families are found to be more rigid in their leadership and relationships, stricter in birth-order hierarchy, more authoritarian in parental control and more dependent across generations (Sison et al, 2020). Historically, patrimonial control was viewed as the birthright of the eldest son, that is, primogeniture (Cole, 1997); however, contemporary research shows that nearly one-third of family businesses in China have a female successor (Chen et al, 2018). The Communist gender equality movement 2 and the one-child policy that has dominated family planning policy in the last four decades have been reported to have improved women's status within the family and also given them legitimate rights to claim leadership roles within the family business context (Chen et al, 2018;Kitching and Jackson, 2002).…”

“…Historically, patrimonial control was viewed as the birthright of the eldest son, that is, primogeniture (Cole, 1997); however, contemporary research shows that nearly one-third of family businesses in China have a female successor (Chen et al, 2018). The Communist gender equality movement 2 and the one-child policy that has dominated family planning policy in the last four decades have been reported to have improved women's status within the family and also given them legitimate rights to claim leadership roles within the family business context (Chen et al, 2018;Kitching and Jackson, 2002). Despite these developments, very little is known about how female successors negotiate and construct their successor-leader identity within a complex social value system in modern China.…”

Uncovering Implicit Assumptions: Reviewing the Work–Family Interface in Family Business and Offering Opportunities for Future Research

“…The U.S. context has been characterized by the wider WFI literature as more extreme in segmenting between the family and work domains compared with the rest of the world (T. L. Dumas & Sanchez-Burks, 2015). Other geographic settings include Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China; e.g., Chen et al, 2018), Europe (Germany, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Turkey; e.g., Bjursell & Bäckvall, 2011), Canada (e.g., Houshmand et al, 2017), Australia (e.g., Smith, 2000), and South Africa (e.g., Venter et al, 2009). Only one article conducts a comparison across cultures-the United States and Australia (Smyrnios et al, 2003).…”