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1 – 10 of 284Peng Ren, Isabel C. Botero and James O. Fiet
Although succession planning can be important for the continuity of family firms, not all family business have the opportunity to engage in this planning. Sometimes, these…
Abstract
Purpose
Although succession planning can be important for the continuity of family firms, not all family business have the opportunity to engage in this planning. Sometimes, these organizations face crisis events that may trigger an intra-family succession. However, what happens when there is an unplanned succession? Are family businesses doomed to fail? This project aims to explore unplanned successions that are triggered by crisis and the impact that this can have on post-succession financial performance. The authors also examine the moderating role of successor characteristics (i.e. education and previous work experience) on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The ideas were tested using data from 151 publicly listed family firms in China.
Findings
The findings indicate that having a crisis driven intra-family succession does not always result in lower post-succession performance. It is only successions that are triggered by market crises that negatively impact financial performance after the unplanned succession. In these instances, the education and previous experience of the successor moderate the negative relationship between market crisis succession and financial performance such that having more experience and a college education diminishes these negative effects on performance.
Practical implications
The results point to the importance of the preparation of the next generation in helping family firms navigate unplanned successions. The findings indicate that education and previous work experience of the successor can help a family firm manage a crisis.
Originality/value
This study continues to build the understanding about unplanned successions and the important role that successor preparation can have for the success of the family firm.
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Angela Oulton and Susan Jagger
The research on the positive effects of children’s learning in and with nature is persuasive yet a deeper examination of the contemporary and historical discourses suggests that…
Abstract
The research on the positive effects of children’s learning in and with nature is persuasive yet a deeper examination of the contemporary and historical discourses suggests that the school garden has been neither welcoming nor accessible to all children. Its detrimental effects on groups of children have been masked within the discourses of urban children’s health and wellbeing, environmental stewardship, and children’s connection with nature. The school garden has been used historically to enact adult agendas to contain and protect urban children from the social ills of modernity; civilise and assimilate marginalised, impoverished, and immigrant groups; and make future industrial and agricultural labourers who would in turn, entrench the white affluent society’s economic and social positions. In this sense, the school garden was used to reinforce patriarchal, colonial, white supremacist, and eugenic aspirations. We consider the school garden movement in North America through a discourse analysis of historical school garden texts to explore how childhoods were culturally constructed and how these discourses have influenced children both in the past and present.
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James M. Vardaman, William E. Tabor, Darel C. Hargrove and Feigu Zhou
The role of family business staffing practices in their ultimate success remains largely unknown. The purpose of this paper is to test the notion that firms with greater family…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of family business staffing practices in their ultimate success remains largely unknown. The purpose of this paper is to test the notion that firms with greater family essence manifest their commitment by leveraging referrals as a recruitment source, which in turn is associated with higher performance. The hypothesized model posits that reduced agency costs from hiring through owner referral utilization (ORU) provide high-family essence firms with stronger performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws upon a sample of 194 small and medium-sized family business owners.
Findings
Findings from OLS regression and the PROCESS model in SPSS support the hypothesis that recruiting nonfamily employees from referrals helps lessen agency conflicts and serves as an intervening mechanism in the relationship between family firm essence and firm performance.
Originality/value
This study draws on agency theory to shed light on how family firms successfully bring nonfamily employees into the fold despite their human resource limitations. The results extend theory on family businesses by demonstrating that those with higher degrees of family essence are more likely to attract applicants via ORU. Leveraging this recruiting practice allows family businesses to hire nonfamily employees who share the values and goals of the family firm, thus lowering agency costs and fostering higher performance. More broadly, the findings offer insight into the role of staffing practices in family firm success.
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Kirsi Snellman, Henri Hakala and Katja Upadyaya
We theorize the critical role of angel investors' affective experiences and first impressions in the context of entrepreneurial finance. We develop a model and propositions to…
Abstract
Purpose
We theorize the critical role of angel investors' affective experiences and first impressions in the context of entrepreneurial finance. We develop a model and propositions to illustrate why angel investors make the decision to continue screening, thus explaining why certain investment proposals make it, while others do not.
Methodology/Approach
Drawing on affective events theory and the literature on affective experiences, we theorize how the perceptions of pitches that trigger positive or/and negative physiological arousal, short-lived emotions, and associated thoughts are different, thus allowing us to build new theory of how these different experiences can influence the outcome of the evaluation process in the initial screening stage.
Findings
Our model suggests that the initial evaluation unfolds in five stages: perception of an entrepreneurial pitch, physiological arousal, emotions, first impression, and a decision to continue screening. When different manifestations of physiological arousal and subsequent emotions set the tone of first impressions, they can be either a positive, negative, or mixed experience. While positive and mixed first impression can lead to selection, negative first impression can lead to rejection.
Originality/Value
We illustrate what is of value for angel investors when they look for new investments, and why certain entrepreneurial pitches lead to the decision to continue screening, while others do not. We propose that what angel investors feel is particularly important in situations where they are not yet making the ultimate decision to invest money but are involved in decisions about whether to continue to spend time to investigate the investment proposal.
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Edward C. Fletcher, Erik M. Hines, Donna Y. Ford and James L. Moore
The purpose of this study was to examine the learning experiences of high school Black males participating in an academy of engineering that was configured as a magnet school. We…
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the learning experiences of high school Black males participating in an academy of engineering that was configured as a magnet school. We followed a qualitative case study design to explore the experiences of 16 Black male academies of engineering students. We identified three recurring themes from the interviews with the Black male academy of engineering students: Promoting Interests in STEM, Drawing Connections to Core Academic Concepts, and An Affinity for Hands-on Learning through the Engineering Curriculum. The results of our study helped us to better understand how academies provide a platform for Black male students' interest in engineering as a viable college and career pathway.
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