Women's Role Involvement in Family Businesses, Business Tensions, and Business Success

Abstract

This paper is based on a study of 391 family-business-owning couples where the husband is the business owner. The purpose of the study was to examine the work involvement of the wife in the business, the business tensions, and the impact of those tensions on family business success. Fifty-seven percent of wives worked in the business, 47% of whom were paid. Forty-two percent of wives were considered major decision makers. Having more than one decision maker in the business impacted certain types of inclusion tension. Business and family success outcomes varied by level of tensions. There was initial evidence of a threshold where business tensions begin to affect business success negatively.