Torn between individual aspirations and the family legacy – individual career development in family firms
Career Development International
ISSN: 1362-0436
Article publication date: 3 January 2022
Issue publication date: 5 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore individual career management by family members in the context of their family firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The interpretative interview study of family members active in family businesses explores how this context affects the choice, planning, goals and development of family members' careers in their family business.
Findings
The authors find that career management in the family business setting focuses on fulfilling the family business goals rather than the personal goals of family members. Career management is rather reactive and less self-directed than current literature on career development recommends. Based on the results, the authors develop a process model for individual career management in the family business context.
Originality/value
Little is known about individual career management of family members in a family business context, as research on careers in family firms has so far focused mainly on transgenerational succession. The authors explore how in family firms, the trend towards self-directed, individual career planning is in tension with a commitment to the family business and its legacy.
Keywords
Citation
Achtenhagen, L., Haag, K., Hultén, K. and Lundgren, J. (2022), "Torn between individual aspirations and the family legacy – individual career development in family firms", Career Development International, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-06-2020-0156
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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