Exploring the side effects of socio-emotional wealth. A multilevel analysis approach to the dysfunctional dynamics in family business succession

Current literature highlights that family firms have non-economic goals, pursuing socio-emotional wealth (SEW), such as the desire to preserve business continuity and involving the next generation in family business. However, in pursuing non-economic advantages family firms also sustain non-economic costs, on individual, family group, and organisational levels. By adopting a qualitative protocol, this study investigated a sample of eight family firms, unveiling the roots of dysfunctional patterns resulting from business transmission specifically. Furthermore, findings highlight the strength of a multilevel approach in providing empirical evidence to support the idea that striving for non-economic goals could be a myopic behaviour, resulting in undesired long-term effects for generations involved in a business transmission process.