Talking About (My) Generation: The Use of Generation as Rhetorical History in Family Business

Abstract

The concept of “generation” in family business scholarship is primarily used genealogically to reflect family lineage. This approach fails to account for complementary perspectives that are more established in history: “generation” as a category of societal belonging and a form of rhetorical history. Using a constitutive history approach, we identify four usages of “generation” by which these narratives can establish continuity or change in how families talk about themselves and foreground either family dynamics or embeddedness in societal developments. The form of historical narratives and how they mark time, we argue, is core to understanding rhetorical history processes.

Legacy in Family Business: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

“…With a few exceptions (Lubinski & Gartner, 2023;Manelli et al, 2023;McAdam et al, 2023), the theory of rhetorical history is not fully infused in family business research (Suddaby et al, 2023). Suddaby et al (2010, p. 157) characterize rhetorical history as the "strategic use of the past as a persuasive strategy to manage key stakeholders of the firm."…”

“…With a few exceptions (Lubinski & Gartner, 2023; Manelli et al, 2023; McAdam et al, 2023), the theory of rhetorical history is not fully infused in family business research (Suddaby et al, 2023). Suddaby et al (2010, p. 157) characterize rhetorical history as the “strategic use of the past as a persuasive strategy to manage key stakeholders of the firm.” This perspective advances an interpretive understanding of legacy building and use through rhetorical practices aimed at celebrating a glorious past or enacting resistance (Aeon & Lamertz, 2021), which might trigger emotional ambivalence in successors (RQ5) as well as strategic hesitations in family firms in relation to the use of legacy (RQ6).…”

History-Informed Family Business Research: An Editorial on the Promise of History and Memory Work

“…It is particularly regretful that we have little empirical understanding of belonging in management theory as this construct speaks directly to one of the most pressing challenges of modernity—the growing sense of detachment individuals feel from our communities, organizations, and societal institutions (Block, 2018; Putnam, 2015). Both constructs, reminiscing and belonging, appear in at least four of the articles in this special issue (Hoon et al, 2023; Haag et al, 2023; Lubinski & Gartner, 2023; Manelli et al, 2023). The case studies in each of these articles sketch out the beginnings of an important yet unexplored dynamic that holds high potential for broader application in organization studies.…”

“…In the articles by Lubinski & Gartner (2023) and Manelli et al (2023), instead, it is the crafting of historical narratives that elucidates the heightened historical consciousness of the family businesses. In their analysis of a collection of historical narratives of the seventh-generation family firm Bagel in the German printing and publishing business, Lubinski and Gartner reveal that historical narratives about the past can be used to give a coherent sense of self to families in business, allowing an understanding of how past, present and future are connected.…”

“…Indeed, historical consciousness, reminiscing, and memory work are essential for effective rhetorical history strategies that fuel family firms' agility (Sinha et al, 2020) and transgenerational entrepreneurship (Jaskiewicz et al, 2015). The historical accounts offered by Lubinski & Gartner (2023) and Manelli et al (2023) illuminate this concept particularly well. However, this stream of research also carries ample opportunities for management research, more generally.…”