Family Diversity and Business Start-Up: Do Family Meals Feed the Fire of Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, Forthcoming

46 Pages Posted: 14 Apr 2023

See all articles by Wei Wang

Wei Wang

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)

Kimberly A. Eddleston

Northeastern University - Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Francesco Chirico

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

Stephen X. Zhang

University of Adelaide

Qiaozhuan Liang

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)

Wei Deng

Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU)

Date Written: March 31, 2023

Abstract

Integrating the family embeddedness perspective with research on commensality and family meals, we develop a framework that explains why some families are more likely to fuel entrepreneurship than others. Inspired by the diversity literature and the role of the Chinese Confucian culture in shaping family dynamics, we explore how two demographic (i.e., age and gender) and two knowledge-based (i.e., education and industry) sources of diversity within family households predict a family member starting a business. We further theorize that these relationships are contingent on the frequency of family meals, as family meals serve as a conduit for how family diversity affects entrepreneurship by providing the setting where socialization and interaction take place. Using data from a representative sample of 8,162 individuals via the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in the 2014-2018 period, our findings demonstrate that although greater age and gender diversity hamper entrepreneurship, family meals ‘feed the fire’ of entrepreneurship for families with greater industry and education diversity.

Suggested Citation

Wang, Wei and Eddleston, Kimberly and Chirico, Francesco and Chirico, Francesco and Zhang, Stephen Xu and Liang, Qiaozhuan and Deng, Wei, Family Diversity and Business Start-Up: Do Family Meals Feed the Fire of Entrepreneurship? (March 31, 2023). Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4405976 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4405976

Wei Wang

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) ( email )

Kimberly Eddleston

Northeastern University - Entrepreneurship and Innovation ( email )

Boston, MA 02115
United States

Francesco Chirico (Contact Author)

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

Jönköping, 55111
Sweden

Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School ( email )

New South Wales 2109
Australia

Stephen Xu Zhang

University of Adelaide ( email )

Nexus10 Tower
10 Pulteney St.
Adelaide, South Australia 5000
Australia
+61 8 8313 9310 (Phone)
+61 8 8223 4782 (Fax)

Qiaozhuan Liang

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) ( email )

Wei Deng

Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) ( email )

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