CEO's identification with the family firm: Burden or joy?

Abstract

In this paper we examine whether CEOs’ identification with the family firm contributes to their joy of work. Literature indicates that family business CEO’s identification with their firm can be both a burden and a joy. Building on psychological ownership literature, we argue that identification leads to joy of work under the condition of psychological ownership experienced by the CEO. In contrast to previous studies, we differentiate between individual-oriented and collective-oriented psychological ownership as two distinct dimensions of individual psychological ownership. We find that CEO’s organizational identification is an important determinant of joy of work but this relationship is only mediated by collective-oriented psychological ownership. Moreover, only collective-oriented psychological ownership is found to contribute to CEO’s joy of work. This is important to know because CEO’s who experience joy of work may be more willing ‘to be involved in processes of transgenerational succession and long-term survival’ of the family firm.