Socioemotional wealth and entrepreneurial orientation in different family businesses’ generational stages

Abstract

This study investigates the association between SEW and EO, considering the moderating role of the generation that is involved in family businesses, considering that EO might benefit from the entrepreneurial and affective attitudes of the first generations. We collected a survey with a final sample of 107 family firms from the textile and clothing manufacturing industry in Brazil. As data analyses, we employed variance-based structural equation modeling using SmartPLS. Our results provide evidence that SEW is positively associated with EO’s three dimensions: innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking; however, we only found a moderation effect of the generational stage for the relationship between SEW and innovativeness and risk-taking. We show that a high SEW effect on risk-taking is stronger for family firms in later generations than first generations. For higher levels of innovativeness, the level of SEW seems to be relevant only for later-generation family firms. We contribute to the literature on EO antecedents focusing on SEW and the differences in the generational stages. This study also provides insights into how family firms can nurture EO during different generational stage developments, considering family-centric nonfinancial goals.