دانلود رایگان مقاله چارچوب بندی دوباره وضعیت در تحقیقات کسب و کار خانوادگی

Abstract

This article will emphasize the status and relevance of narrative research in the study of families in business and family business strategy. It argues that narratives can provide a better understanding of the intricate connections between family and business and across family generations in business. Narratives generate knowledge by helping to shape a collective identity and as a form of intergenerational communication. By focusing on narratives as a phenomenological inquiry, we argue that interviews allow researchers to engage often in emotionally charged and intimate conversations with individuals that want to talk about experiences as members of a family business. This paper will discuss the usefulness of narrative approaches for family business strategy research, develop a catalogue of research questions for exploration, highlight challenges and offer solutions to deal with them when using narrative methods in family business research. This paper argues that while several challenges may be encountered, narratives allow researchers to delve into the intricate lives of members of a family in business.

7. Conclusion

This article focused on the status and relevance of narratives for the study of families in business and family business strategy. Narratives may advance the field by allowing a deep understanding of the process of being and becoming a family in business. Attention to families in business is important as they devise strategies that impact family businesses over time. To study strategy in a family business without acknowledging the narrative items (e.g. stories, myths, metaphors) that families in business are willing to share, may only provide a partial representation of reality. We argue that narratives, as a phenomenological inquiry, may provide a privileged opportunity for researchers to understand, among others, the emotions and motivations of family members behind the creation, management and development of one or more businesses over time. Narratives provide a platform to understand that strategies in family firms may be deeply connected to intergenerational values, emotions, achievements, struggles and tragedies. The study of families in business is inherently multidisciplinary and thus narratives can help in developing theoretical frameworks that draw from areas such as history, sociology, entrepreneurship and learning. Scholars are encouraged to appreciate, through narratives, the inevitable change and transformation that families in business and family businesses experience over time and the strategies that accompany and entice such change. In doing so, Hamilton (2013) suggests, future studies may find out what families in business around the world seem to attest through their narratives: one lifetime is not enough!