شناخت فرهنگ کارآفرینی در کسب و کار خانوادگی : مطالعه تیم کارآفرینانه خانوادگی در هندوراس

This study contributes to our understanding about entrepreneurial cultures in family businesses. Previous family business literature highlights that entrepreneurial cultures reside within a founding or incumbent generation. The identification and pursuit of opportunities leading to establishing or acquiring ventures revolves around a founder-centered culture. This view overlooks the way opportunity identification and pursuit become part of the culture in family firms. Interpretive methods were used to analyze six family business groups in Honduras. The unit of analysis is the family entrepreneurial team (FET), members of the family behind entrepreneurial processes. By focusing on the family entrepreneurial team this study shows that entrepreneurial cultures are transmitted via long intergenerational interaction and continued via involvement of junior generations in the identification and pursuit of opportunities. We argue that further attention to the family unit and alternative contexts extends our understanding of entrepreneurial cultures in family businesses.

To understand family businesses there is a need to develop more knowledge about underlying organizational cultures (Howorth, Rose, & Hamilton, 2006). Organizational culture refers to the shared beliefs, norms and values held collectively by people in an organization (e.g. a family or a business). These are seen to influence how members perceive and interact with one another, approach decisions or activities and solve problems (Alvesson, 1993 and Schein, 1983). Recent work demonstrates growing interest in understanding the culture, or the way things are done, behind entrepreneurial activities in family businesses (Zahra, Hayton, & Salvato, 2004). Previous works highlight that we might often find a paternalistic and founder-centered organizational culture when entrepreneurial activities are engaged (Dyer, 1988). Such a view emphasizes the family business venture itself and overlooks those who develop the entrepreneurial culture. It is unsurprising that researchers have called for more knowledge and understanding about the actual families that build and sustain organizational cultures (Zachary Heck, 2004). This is also the case in terms of the importance of understanding the role and influence of those developing entrepreneurial cultures. Previous research suggests that entrepreneurial cultures influence an existing firm's disposition to support and sustain entrepreneurship (Zahra et al., 2004). While concepts differ, a wide consensus prevails that entrepreneurship deals with individuals and teams engaging in identifying, evaluating and exploiting opportunities (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). An entrepreneurial culture should then foster and support the continuous identification and pursuit of opportunities leading to ventures being created or acquired. Family businesses have been found to encourage entrepreneurial activities over time (Kellermanns and Eddleston, 2006 and Webb et al., 2010). Yet the identification and pursuit of opportunities are mostly associated with business founders and in the context of the family business, it has been questioned if succeeding generations can realistically have the entrepreneurial drive that existed in the founding generation (Westhead, Howorth, & Cowling, 2001). While studies highlight the relevance of founders in the build-up of entrepreneurial cultures (Chirico and Nordqvist, 2010 and Hall et al., 2001) there is limited understanding of how entrepreneurial cultures are transmitted and sustained. The transmission of entrepreneurial values to potential successors is often neglected by founders or incumbents (Brockhaus, 2004). Moreover, while entrepreneurial cultures may be continued by one or more individuals, a collective approach by family members to opportunity identification and pursuit is often ignored (Chrisman, Chua, & Steier, 2002). Indeed, it would seem that previous work may have overlooked the reality that the continuity of entrepreneurial cultures is embodied in a collective engagement of family members in fundamental entrepreneurial processes. There is clearly a gap in the literature in understanding how an entrepreneurial culture can be continued so that more businesses might be created or acquired by members of a family. There have been calls to investigate how these cultures are transmitted (Schein, 1983). It has been suggested that research should go beyond dealing with the family business per se and instead concentrate on the family team behind entrepreneurial processes in family businesses (Chua et al., 2003 and Ucbasaran et al., 2003). To enhance our understanding about entrepreneurial cultures researchers are also encouraged to examine alternative contexts outside the US (Chirico and Nordqvist, 2010, Hall et al., 2001 and Zahra et al., 2004). It is against this background that this study is set. More specifically the aim of this study is to understand the way opportunity identification and pursuit part of the culture in family firms. To address this aim, we deal with the research question how are entrepreneurial cultures transmitted and continued in family businesses? In terms of transmitted, our interest lies in how an entrepreneurial culture is passed on. In terms of continued, we are concerned about how they remain in existence. In answering this question we join conversations about the long term enterprising behavior of families in business over time ( Discua Cruz et al., in press, Roscoe et al., in press and Zellweger et al., 2012). To address this research question we concentrate on six case studies developed from interviews with multiple respondents. The unit of analysis in this study is the family entrepreneurial team (FET). A FET is defined as two or more family members, related by kinship or marriage, who engage in the identification and pursuit of business opportunities to establish or purchase a firm, have an equity stake in the firm and a direct influence on the strategic choice of the firm at the time of founding (Discua Cruz et al., in press). To generate understanding, we examine family business groups in Honduras, a collection of businesses owned and managed by members of a family, where family entrepreneurial teams appear as a vehicle for the establishment and acquisition of several ventures (Discua Cruz, Hamilton, & Howorth, 2010). In Honduras, family business groups are commonplace and entrepreneurial activities often reflect collectivistic efforts by family members ( Discua Cruz and Howorth, 2008, Discua Cruz, 2010 and Roscoe et al., in press). This article makes two contributions to the literature. First, it provides further understanding about how entrepreneurial cultures that exist within family businesses are transmitted. Second, it extends knowledge of how these entrepreneurial cultures are continued by family entrepreneurial teams through the identification and pursuit of opportunities. In addition to these contributions, this study also highlights the importance of family entrepreneurial teams as the unit of analysis and the relevance of alternative contexts when studying entrepreneurial cultures. The paper proceeds as follows: first, we present our theoretical platform by drawing on the literatures of organizational culture, culture in family businesses and entrepreneurial cultures. Then, we detail our research method and present our findings based on six case studies. Finally, analysis and conclusions are presented with suggestions for future research.

This study unveils ways in which entrepreneurial cultures are transmitted and continued. It shows that greater attention should be given to those who make entrepreneurship part of the culture in family businesses, the family entrepreneurial team. The findings and analysis in this study implies contributions to theory and practice. 6.1. Contributions to theory Drawing on the literature of organizational and entrepreneurial culture this study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship in family firms by elucidating the ways in which entrepreneurial cultures get passed on and remain in existence. This study shows that entrepreneurial cultures are transmitted via long interaction and continued via involvement of junior generations in the identification and pursuit of opportunities. The transmission and continuance of entrepreneurial cultures support the approach of FET to portfolio entrepreneurship. 6.2. Contributions to practice This study highlights the relevance of an early and prolonged interaction between members of a family in business. It underscores the importance of junior members participating in activities geared to increase their entrepreneurial skills. Interactions between generations should not be confined within the business context. Family activities, as simple as discussions around the dinner table or playing game boards, may have a profound impact in the way opportunity identification and pursuit is transmitted and continued by junior generations. The findings here are applicable to both families that are in business for several generations as well as those who are just starting on the journey. The awareness of the importance of early and prolonged interaction and the participation of members in real entrepreneurial processes, both at home and in business, may help families behind businesses to approach confidently the re-engagement in fundamental entrepreneurial processes. Senior generation members need to consider the way in which they transmit their entrepreneurial knowledge as it may gradually become taken-for-granted by future generations. This may facilitate the survival of existing businesses but most importantly the continuity of family members in business activities. 6.3. Limitations and future research This study supports the view that understanding the cultural background of the context of study is needed to understand underlying culture of family businesses. Previous studies highlight the importance of acknowledging the context in which family businesses are studied. In line with Hall et al. (2001) and Chirico and Nordqvist (2010) this study acknowledges the importance of understanding alternative contexts. The findings reflect the cultural aspects expected in Latin American contexts (Gupta et al., 2008 and Hofstede, 2001). The data reported here originates from Honduran family business groups. While the findings might apply to family business groups in similar cultural contexts in Latin America (Gupta et al., 2008), they may not apply to others. This is because family business values, goals and objectives might vary within or across national cultures (Dyer and Mortensen, 2005 and Howorth and Ali, 2001). The cultural traits highlighted in this study, particularly in paternalistic contexts such as Honduras, suggest that this study may have a greater applicability in those cultures in which similar cultural traits associated to Latin American countries predominate (Lansberg & Perrow, 1991). However, we would argue that the prevalence of family business groups throughout the world indicates this study of family businesses in Honduras may have wider applicability. Therefore, it would be useful if further research about entrepreneurial cultures were carried out in alternative geographical contexts and cultures. This may allow us to understand better how entrepreneurial cultures around the world affect entrepreneurial activities by families (Heck & Mishra, 2008). In this study the case study method proved critical to achieving an in-depth understanding of how entrepreneurial cultures are transmitted and continued. The approach was appropriate as it provided a way to understand how and why things work in the way they do (Myers, 2009 and Pratt, 2009). The cases used for this study were of nuclear families (parents–offspring). Findings may differ if entrepreneurial cultures affect a wider set of generations within family businesses. Additional case studies are warranted in the way entrepreneurial cultures may influence subsequent generations of families with a long term view in enterprising activities (Roscoe et al., in press). Further studies can concentrate around the issues we have been concerned with in this study to see if our findings are corroborated or challenged, particularly where families own and control a portfolio of businesses.