Title: A factor model of family involvement in a business: familiness manifested in ownership, management and operation

Authors: Hamideh Miriasl; Ahmet Ozcam

Addresses: Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Family involvement in a business is usually conceptualised dichotomously, family business or not. This is overly simplistic in that involvement encompasses several kinds. To overcome this we pursue multi-dimensional modelling. Our questions are, first, can family involvement be conceptualised as a latent property indicated by ownership, management and operation; second, is operationalisation by a factor model similar across societies; and, third, can this model predict outcomes, perhaps better than the simplistic dichotomy? The research design is to factor analyse measures of kinds of family involvement in businesses randomly sampled in four countries. Findings are that family involvement can be modelled as a latent variable indicated by ownership, management and operation. Within each country, the factor loadings are all positive, but their magnitudes differ across countries. The latent variable predicts outcomes, like the dichotomy, and occasionally better. The originality of the article is a reconceptualisation of family involvement as a latent property with manifestations. The contribution is a model of involvement which is more realistic and revealing than the dichotomy.

Keywords: family involvement; factor model of family involvement; manifestation of familiness.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2021.117115

European Journal of International Management, 2021 Vol.16 No.2, pp.260 - 275

Received: 16 May 2019
Accepted: 24 Feb 2020
Published online: 18 Aug 2021 *

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