Inheriting Entrepreneurial Values and Family Business in Indonesia: Lessons from the Literature.

Abstract

This paper aims to review the literature on how family values, particularly the entrepreneurship values of business founders, are inherited by the next generation of their families and reflected in the corporate culture. Indonesian Family Businesses are selected to provide a contextualized understanding through case studies. Data were collected from the Scopus database using the keywords “family business” and “Indonesia” and then analyzed to provide the dynamics of knowledge production through bibliographic analysis. In addition, a narrative literature review (NLR) was employed to reveal insights from the database. The findings show that Indonesian discussion on family businesses is emergent and ripe for study, and since 2015, interest in exploring family businesses has grown. Literature illuminates essential insights on how entrepreneurship emerged in the context of its inheritance by the next generation, which affects the corporate culture. For Indonesian family businesses, particularly Chinese family businesses, entrepreneurial spirits emerge because of the socio-cultural dynamics that use cultural values and ethics to facilitate economic activity in contemporary society. Their migration from China to Indonesia several decades ago may have aroused a spirit of survival, enacted in the second generation by sending them overseas and driving them to be involved in the business. The literature also demonstrates that each company reflects the entrepreneurial spirit and values of its founder or family through its corporate identity, institutional standards of behavior, and ethics. This research enriches the present discussion and provides insights for researchers on the research gap in family business issues. At a practical level, this paper provides insight for professionals who work in the sector to gain insight into how family businesses work to maintain their entrepreneurial spirit.