Women and leadership in paternalistic family-owned businesses

Abstract

Family-Owned Businesses (FOBs) are unique constitutions as they are managed, owned, and controlled by the families and accepted as vital players of the global economy as they dominate commercial life and represent most businesses worldwide. Even though there is no widely accepted definition of such companies, the illustration’s common point is the family participation in the management and ownership. Moreover, to consider one company as a family business, most ownership should lie within a single-family, and family businesses are differentiated by the involvement of family members’ active participation, including the management team, board members, or shareholders.The intention to pass the business to their antecedents, longevity, long-term viability, continued family engagement, in other words, “Succession” is considered as the most critical event in family business literature, and a large majority of studies focus on this event. This event’s importance is that the sustainability of a FOB represents both business success and family functionality. Similarly, literature also underlines that family businesses outperform non-family businesses as the performance refers to both business and the family. Therefore, FOBs need to carefully plan the succession process to ensure healthy longevity while passing leadership and ownership from one generation of owners to the next generation.However, research shows that intergenerational succession is influenced by cultural background and, women’s participation in FOBs is deeply affected by cultural factors, social norms, sociocultural environment, and religious background. Traditional role thinking affects not only the succession process but also the participation of women within some specific cultures. Therefore, this study aims to show the effect of “paternalistic” culture on women’s FOBs presence.