Navigating the family business: A gendered analysis of identity construction of daughters

Hytti, Ulla; Alsos, Gry Agnete; Heinonen, Jarna; Ljunggren, Elisabet

doi:10.1177/0266242616675924

Cited by 83 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…It is critical that the stories of these transnational migrant women are given holistic consideration for the way they emancipate themselves from prevailing dominant patriarchal structures (Remennick 2016) rather than just see them as an 'escape' from implicit and embedded gender stereotypes. That the embedded nature of cultural and familial values is of continued significance to these women highlights the critical intersection of gender, migration histories and family relations (Essers and Benschop 2009;Hytti et al 2017). Our narratives generate insights into how women gain credibility and legitimacy through their entrepreneurial endeavours (Marlow and McAdam 2015).…”

Section: Transmission Of Cultural and Familial Values Across Transnatmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…'Gender blindness' often results from family dynamics that are deeply embedded in these businesses (Aldrich and Cliff 2003). The sense of solidarity attributed to family members working in family businesses can conceal the patriarchal relations and inequalities underlying the family's dynamics, and thus disguise the women's role in the business (Campopiano et al 2017;Hytti et al 2017;Nelson and Constantinidis 2017). As such, the socially-constructed invisibility of the women's role in family businesses becomes replicated and reproduced across generations (Danes and Olson 2003).…”

Section: Gender and The Transnational Migrant Family Businessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

et al. 2019

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Despite increased academic attention paid to migration flows in Europe, the gendered nature of transnational migrant entrepreneurial journeys within the context of a family business remains under‐researched. We address this gap by investigating how transnational spaces allow women to challenge dominant ideas about their roles, and to claim legitimacy by opening branches of their family business abroad. With extensive longitudinal evidence collected over a seven‐year period, we showcase four biographical narratives of women operating transnational family businesses in the UK that had originated in Eastern Europe. Adopting this novel longitudinal approach, we provide insights into how these transnational migrant women entrepreneurs exercise individual agency to overcome structural constraints by developing strategies that prioritize their own business aspirations without fully sacrificing their family ties.

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Section: Transmission Of Cultural and Familial Values Across Transnatmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Gender and The Transnational Migrant Family Businessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

et al. 2019

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“…We take a social constructionist approach to analyze how gender structures successor selection. An alternative to the aforementioned, essentialist, ‘gender as being’ approach, this social constructionist, ‘gender as doing’ approach (West and Zimmerman, ) focuses on individuals’ continual interactions (with each other and their environment) to understand how they negotiate and renegotiate the meaning of gender (Bruni et al ., ; Hytti et al ., ). Gender is a pervasive force influencing not only men and women but also families, businesses, networks, research, language and competition (Nelson and Constantinidis, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Prior research has largely adopted a binary, stereotypical view of gender in family business and family business succession (Hamilton, , ; Heinonen and Hytti, ; Byrne and Fattoum, ; Hytti et al ., ; Nelson and Constantinidis, ). The majority of family business research exhibits a gender‐essentialist positioning meaning that men and women are viewed as inherently different, such that ‘men are like this, and women are like that’ (Bradley, ; Nelson and Constantinidis, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Our study draws on narratives collected in four case studies of succession. Inspired by recent studies that take an interpretivist and/or narrative approach (Bruni et al ., ; Hall and Nordqvist, ; Hytti et al ., ), we examine how gender is ‘done’ by actors in the family business. Our findings demonstrate that the dynamics of gender are much more complicated than a binary view focused on gender category would imply.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A suitable boy? Gendered roles and hierarchies in family business succession

Byrne

Fattoum

Thébaud

2018

European Management Review

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Given the importance of family business to economies and societies, the persistence of gender inequality in succession requires further exploration. While gender theorizing has penetrated mainstream management theorizing, its application in family business literature remains underdeveloped: extant research conceptualizes gender as an objective property of individuals, synonymous with biological sex. In this paper, we adopt a social constructionist approach and study four cases of family business succession, revealing significant insights into how gender structures successor selection. We show how gender dynamics are more complicated than a binary view focused on gender category would imply. Specifically, we identify how family members, through discourses and interactions, socially construct the successor role, and how this gendered construction of the role frames a hierarchy of potential successors. This hierarchy is based on the combination of gender category and the extent to which an individual's traits and characteristics are perceived to align with that role.

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Learning to be entrepreneurial: Do family firms gain more from female leadership than nonfamily firms?

Hernández‐Linares,

López‐Fernández,

Eddleston

et al. 2023

Strategic Entrepreneurship

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Research SummaryWe integrate social learning theory with gender role congruity theory to propose that family firms gain more from female leadership than nonfamily firms due to the congruence of female communal values with those of a family business. Results of our empirical study, based on a sample of 322 Spanish small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), show that while all three dimensions of learning orientation (commitment to learning, shared vision, and open‐mindedness) are positively related to an entrepreneurial orientation, significant differences exist based on the CEO's gender and whether the SME is a family or nonfamily firm. Strongest differences were found between female‐led family and nonfamily SMEs whereby the entrepreneurial orientation of female‐led family SMEs benefited significantly more from their firm's commitment to learning and open‐mindedness.Managerial SummaryTo cultivate entrepreneurship, a small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) leader must create an organization that fosters learning. Yet, surprisingly, we know little about male and female leaders' ability to translate their SME's learning into entrepreneurship. Our study reveals that in comparison to nonfamily firms, family firms offer an environment that is more conducive to supporting women leaders, which allows their female leaders to direct their SME's learning more effectively toward entrepreneurship. However, while female‐led family SMEs were as effective as male‐led family‐ and nonfamily‐led SMEs in directing learning toward entrepreneurship, female‐led nonfamily SMEs struggled. Our study therefore suggests that while women have an advantage leading family SMEs, gender biases hamper female leaders' ability to transform learning into greater entrepreneurial orientation in nonfamily SMEs.

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Navigating the family business: A gendered analysis of identity construction of daughters

Cited by 83 publications

References 62 publications

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

A suitable boy? Gendered roles and hierarchies in family business succession

Learning to be entrepreneurial: Do family firms gain more from female leadership than nonfamily firms?

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