http://www.diva-portal.org Postprint This is the accepted version of a chapter published in The Routledge companion to family business. Citation for the original published chapter: Waldkirch, M., Nordqvist, M. (2016) Finding benevolence in family firms: The case of stewardship theory. In: Franz Kellermanns, Frank Hoy (ed.), The Routledge companion to family business (pp. 401-414). New York: Routledge N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published chapter. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-34276 Finding Benevolence in Family Firms: The Case of Stewardship Theory Matthias Waldkirch PhD Candidate Centre for Family Enterprise and Ownership Tel: +46-(0)36-10 17 91 E-mail:
[email protected] Mattias Nordqvist, PhD Professor in Business Administration The Hamrin International Professor of Family Business Director, Centre for Family Enterprise and Ownership Tel: +46-(0)36-10 18 53 E-mail:
[email protected] Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University PO Box 1026 SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden Finding Benevolence in Family Firms: The Case of Stewardship Theory 1. Introduction The view of organizations as “purely rational and calculated systems” (Frost et al. 2006, 843) has a long history, underpinned by a ‘model of man’ that depicts actors as inherently self- interested, aiming to maximize their economic gain (Donaldson and Davis 1991). Many theories of organizations irrespective of their origin have built upon this simplified view of human action, seeing it as “the pursuit of self-interest by rational, more or less atomized individuals” (Granovetter 1985, 482).