A typology of next generation employment preferences in family businesses TELLING, Richard Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/23299/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/23299/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. A typology of next generation employment preferences in family businesses RICHARD TELLING A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2017 i Abstract Within the family business literature, research unequivocally focuses on the impact of the family entity on the business entity (e.g. Bennedsen, 2015). This thesis is aligned with several earlier studies (e.g. Ram, 2001) which place the family unit at the heart of the analysis. Such approaches have been successful in demonstrating that family relationships can have an impact on work relations (e.g. Fletcher, 1997), though the influence of family relationships in the context of next generation employment preferences has yet to be explored. Whilst the succession literature accounts for offspring who assume a role within the family business, those who seek opportunities beyond its remit have been ignored. Where the next generation have been the subject of empirical work in related fields of study (e.g. ethnic entrepreneurship, see Kourtit and Nijkamp, 2012), it is frequently assumed that their motivations are rational economic ones i.e. better employment prospects than the previous generation. Furthermore, it is also assumed that these can only be found beyond the remit of the family business. This thesis answers a call from Masurel and Nijkamp (2004), who highlight that previous attempts to understand the differences between first and second generation employment preferences have yet to pay specific attention to family relationships and whether these encourage the next generation towards the family business, or deter them from it. The research framework was explored among five Italian families, each of which were involved in the catering sector. Multiple family members from each family were interviewed and combined to produce a narrative of each family. In some cases, the next generation were now responsible for the family catering business, leading it to new heights. In other cases, the next generation had forged successful careers beyond the remit of the family business. Not all of the stories, however, were happy ones. In one family, next generation family members were forced to work at the family business from as young as eight years old and, in doing so, considered themselves to have been robbed of their childhoods. Whilst some of the siblings fled the UK at the earliest opportunity, others were less fortunate and their father dictated their entire lives, including who his daughters married. The strongest theme to emerge was that of family obligations to supply labour. It is owing to these family obligations that the next generation often considered themselves 'already in' the family business. Rather than a decision to become involved in the family business, the next generation are instead confronted with the reality of exiting the family business, which some offspring find challenging. The thesis demonstrates that family relationships are no less important that other (often rational economic) influences. As such, when family relationships breakdown they can provide the key driver for the next generation to seek opportunities beyond the family business. However, the drivers behind next generation decision making are numerous and the thesis provides a typology of next generation employment preferences to complement the typology of retirement styles developed by Sonnenfeld (1998). ii Acknowledgements My thanks go to Dr Emma Martin and Dr Philip Goulding for their supervision over the past seven years. I am particularly grateful for your patience during the early stages of my doctoral journey, and for your insights, support and critique more recently. Whilst producing this thesis has been an enormous and challenging task, it has ultimately been a pleasurable one and I reserve only the highest esteem for the part that you have played in making this so. My thanks also extend to a select few colleagues, namely, Dave Egan, Ian Elsmore, Natalie Haynes and Wei Chen. Thank you for your support and feedback and above all, for making 7336 a working environment second to none. I also wish to thank my line managers past and present, Jenny Cockill and Alisha Ali, for their unrelenting support and encouragement. Thank you to the five Italian families who participated in this research, without which this thesis would not be possible. Whilst your perfections provide for the most coveted dining experiences, your imperfections provide for the most interesting grounds for research. I wish you harmony and prosperity in the future. Thank you to my parents, John and Sandra, for encouraging me to aim high in education. Above all, thank you for an unparalleled upbringing, for providing me with a brother and sister whom I adore, and for your eternal love and support. Thank you to my amazing wife Stacey for your patience, for your support, for always believing in me and for filling my life with love and happiness. Undertaking research on families has taught me that the reason that people work hard is to provide a better life for their loved ones. To that end, I dedicate this thesis to you and Serena, for inspiring me to be a better husband, father and man every day. iii Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Aim .......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3. Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.4. My story .................................................................................................................................. 3 1.5. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................. 5 2. Family Businesses ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.2. Definitions and prevalence rates ............................................................................................. 8 2.3. Family involvement ............................................................................................................... 10 2.4. Family business motives ........................................................................................................ 12 2.5. Succession ............................................................................................................................. 15 2.6. A typology of retirement styles ............................................................................................. 19 2.7. Next generation decision making .......................................................................................... 22 2.8. Ethnic entrepreneurship ....................................................................................................... 24 2.9. Early experiences ................................................................................................................... 28 2.10. Parental influences ............................................................................................................ 31 2.11. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 32 3. Sociology of the family .................................................................................................................. 35 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 35 3.2. Defining 'the family'............................................................................................................... 35 3.3. Blood ties and kinship relations ............................................................................................. 37 3.4. The impact of social change on the family ............................................................................ 39 3.5. Patriarchy .............................................................................................................................. 41 3.6. Harmony, privacy and the ‘dark side’ of family life ............................................................... 42 3.7. Intimacy ................................................................................................................................