Employee Silence and Entrepreneurial Orientation in Small and Medium-Sized Family Firms

Abstract

This paper aims to assess differences between employees of family and non-family firms regarding their levels of employee silence and their perceptions of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, focusing on family firms, we assess the relationship between the levels of employees’ silence and their perceptions of the firm’s entrepreneurial orientation. The empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 245 Portuguese employees, 117 employees of family firms, and 128 of non-family firms, who responded to a questionnaire that included employee silence and entrepreneurial orientation measures. Results reveal that family firms’ employees show higher levels of employee silence but perceive their companies as less entrepreneurially oriented than employees of non-family companies. In addition, our results do not support the idea that there is a relationship between the levels of employee silence and the employee’s perception of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation. This paper offers initial insights into the debate on the relationship between the levels of employee silence and the employee’s perception of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation in family firms.

Exploring the Nexus of Organizational Justice, Turnover Intentions, and Resilience Levels: An Analysis of Employees in Family and Non-Family Firms within the Hotel Industry.

“…These results contradict initial expectations based on the notion that family businesses are generally considered secure, loyal, and stable organizations (Hauswald & Hack, 2013) and are seen as fair and concerned with the well-being of employees (Alderson, 2018). However, these results corroborate those obtained by Pimentel (2018) and Pimentel et al (2020). A plausible rationale for the observed outcomes may be attributed to the socioemotional wealth considerations inherent in familyowned companies, which are paramount to their prosperity and longevity (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2007).…”

Turnover intentions of non-family employees in family firms – the influence of leader mindfulness, LMX quality and affective commitment

“…While high quality relationships with superiors have been shown to create positive workplace environment for employees that have positive influence on their well-being and job performance (Reb et al, 2019), yet TOI of NFEs may be driven by other factors that take priority over LMX quality. For instance, family firms are known to offer limited opportunities for outsiders in senior level leadership positions compared to more professionalized managed non-family enterprises (Pimentel, 2018). As a result, some NFEs may feel that being employed by professionally managed non-family enterprises provide more opportunities to flourish in their profession.…”

“…Family-firms are characterized by dominant ownership and control by a family coalition (Kellermanns and Eddleston, 2006), as a result such organizations are typically not the most attractive employment destinations for qualified jobseekers (Waterwall and Alipour, 2021). Even though in most organizations, non-family employees comprise of majority of the workforce (Pimentel, 2018), yet such organizations have been known to have two social classes of employees: family and non-family employees. Family employees typically have a more “first-class status” compared to NFEs and hold key positions in the organization wielding greater influence over the affairs of the company.…”

Work Satisfaction in Smes: A Comparative Study of Selected Countries in Central and Eastern Europe

“…The importance of organizational culture in job satisfaction at SMS is often pointed out (Ariani, 2023). This is most likely due to the fact that corporations have the structural attribute of producing an organizational culture, a corporate culture, while SMS are often associated with a lack of culture or a culture shaped by the business practices (Pimentel, 2018) of the owner of a small or micro enterprise. Despite many limitations, these research results seem to increase the knowledge about the phenomenon of achieving job satisfaction in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.…”