The role of family dynamics and culture in the psychological ownership of family shareholders in family businesses

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The purpose of this work is to understand the role of family dynamics and culture in the development of psychological ownership of family shareholders. A qualitative and exploratory approach was used based on the study of 14 cases of Colombian shareholders and 5 cases of Finnish shareholders. The results show that family dynamics create opportunities to a) align expectations of the family concerning the business; b) improve communication between family members; c) consolidate common values in the family; and d), promote identification with the company. These opportunities foster the intention that family shareholders have to exercise control over the company, invest more time in it and, therefore, obtain a better understanding of it, which promotes the development of psychological ownership. When the two contexts were compared, it was found that the level of collectivism and individualism in each culture permeates the opportunities generated by family dynamics. In this sense, similarities were found regarding the alignment of expectations, communication, and interaction between family members, and identification with the company. On the other hand, it was observed that the dynamics that promote identification with the company through parents’ messages and the handling of different opinions generate a favorable environment that encourages psychological ownership in the Colombian case, but not in the Finnish one.