Commitment Escalation to a Failing Family Business

Journal of Small Business Management, Forthcoming

36 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2015 Last revised: 13 Oct 2015

See all articles by Francesco Chirico

Francesco Chirico

Jonkoping University - Jonkoping International Business School (JIBS); Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School

Carlo Salvato

Bocconi University - Department of Management and Technology

Barbara Byrne

University of Ottawa

Naveed Akhter

Jonkoping University - Jonkoping International Business School (JIBS)

Juan Arriaga

Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), EGADE Business School

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 11, 2015

Abstract

The overarching intent of this manuscript is to heighten awareness to the concept of commitment escalation as it bears on a failing family business. Specifically, drawing on the concept of emotional ownership, together with self-justification arguments, we a) identify factors considered to be most forceful in contributing to the presence of commitment escalation and thus, resistance to change in a failing family business (i.e., emotional ownership, feeling of responsibility, investment of capital, temporal distance from the founder’s business, individualism/collectivism), and b) model these related factors in a form that can serve heuristically to stimulate future empirical research capable of testing for the construct validity of commitment escalation in a family business context. We present potential items that may be useful for future scholars in measuring our constructs of interest as they relate to a failing family business.

Keywords: family business, commitment entrapment, commitment escalation, resistance to change, exit

Suggested Citation

Chirico, Francesco and Chirico, Francesco and Salvato, Carlo and Byrne, Barbara and Akhter, Naveed and Arriaga, Juan, Commitment Escalation to a Failing Family Business (October 11, 2015). Journal of Small Business Management, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2672634

Francesco Chirico (Contact Author)

Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School ( email )

New South Wales 2109
Australia

Jonkoping University - Jonkoping International Business School (JIBS) ( email )

Jönköping, 55111
Sweden

Carlo Salvato

Bocconi University - Department of Management and Technology ( email )

Via Roentgen 1
Milan, MI 20136
Italy

Barbara Byrne

University of Ottawa ( email )

2292 Edwin Crescent
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 1H7
Canada

Naveed Akhter

Jonkoping University - Jonkoping International Business School (JIBS) ( email )

Jönköping, 55111
Sweden

Juan Arriaga

Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), EGADE Business School ( email )

Ave. Fundadores y Rufino Tamayo
Garza-Garcia, Nuevo Laredo 66269
Mexico

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