Sex and Gender in Family Business Succession Research: A Review and Forward Agenda From a Social Construction Perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on how family business succession research has engaged and may be further enriched by application of a gender lens as socially constructed. We analyze the succession literature developing a gender terms vocabulary and five themes of historical engagement. Finding a lack of theoretical grounding, we apply the construct of gender, through expectation states theory, revising the Sharma and Irving model of successor commitment to examine how a socially constructed view of gender shifts and opens up points of view. We then present a forward looking agenda to motivate future scholarship.

Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business

“…Third, in acknowledgement of Nelson and Constantinidis's (2017) call for better accommodation of gender in research on family businesses, we provide novel insights into the intersections of such research with gender and migration history. Indeed, by focusing on four biographical narratives of women operating transnational family businesses in the UK that had originated in Eastern Europe, we were able to look beyond the normative ascriptions of gender stereotypes that define women's roles in family businesses as silent and invisible (Pio and Essers 2014;Villares-Varela 2018).…”

“…'Gender blindness' often results from family dynamics that are deeply embedded in these businesses (Aldrich and Cliff 2003). The sense of solidarity attributed to family members working in family businesses can conceal the patriarchal relations and inequalities underlying the family's dynamics, and thus disguise the women's role in the business (Campopiano et al 2017;Hytti et al 2017;Nelson and Constantinidis 2017). As such, the socially-constructed invisibility of the women's role in family businesses becomes replicated and reproduced across generations (Danes and Olson 2003).…”

A suitable boy? Gendered roles and hierarchies in family business succession

“…Prior research has largely adopted a binary, stereotypical view of gender in family business and family business succession (Hamilton, , ; Heinonen and Hytti, ; Byrne and Fattoum, ; Hytti et al ., ; Nelson and Constantinidis, ). The majority of family business research exhibits a gender‐essentialist positioning meaning that men and women are viewed as inherently different, such that ‘men are like this, and women are like that’ (Bradley, ; Nelson and Constantinidis, ). Indeed, the terms ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are often used interchangeably.…”

“…An alternative to the aforementioned, essentialist, ‘gender as being’ approach, this social constructionist, ‘gender as doing’ approach (West and Zimmerman, ) focuses on individuals’ continual interactions (with each other and their environment) to understand how they negotiate and renegotiate the meaning of gender (Bruni et al ., ; Hytti et al ., ). Gender is a pervasive force influencing not only men and women but also families, businesses, networks, research, language and competition (Nelson and Constantinidis, ). Businesses and families are not gender‐neutral and neither are the roles within them.…”

“…Businesses and families are not gender‐neutral and neither are the roles within them. Discussions, products, industries, processes (such as succession) and more can be gendered as ‘norms around men and women, and maleness and femaleness are defined and taken for granted’ (Nelson and Constantinidis, : 19). Theoretical development on gender is particularly important in the case of succession (Sharma and Irving, ; Nelson and Constantinidis, ), because, without an understanding of the way that gender structures succession processes, we lack an understanding of the extent to which otherwise competent and ‘worthy’ successors are either ignored, undervalued or poorly prepared for succession, a critical factor which ultimately contributes to failure rates of family businesses (Martinez‐Jimenez, ; Wang, ).…”