Family Business, Identity Conflict, and an Expedited Entrepreneurial Process: A Process of Resolving Identity Conflict

Abstract

Drawing on Identity Control Theory (ICT) and the literature on social identity, we offer a model of the dynamics associated with competing family and business identities brought into conflict by “family–business” events. We introduce the notion of the family–business role as a distinct identity functioning at the intersection of family and business identities. This meta–level identity “manages” conflict between the family and the business identities, and is formulated and transformed within the family structure. To illustrate the dynamics of the family–business meta–identity, in this article we focus on entrepreneurial opportunities as potentially identity conflict–triggering events and illustrate how and with what impact the meta–identity works to resolve identity conflict at the intersection of family and business so as to expedite the entrepreneurial process. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our model.