He-said, she-said: A family science and gendered perspective of communication in small family businesses

Abstract

Responding to calls to use family theories in family firm research, we adopt a family science perspective to understand the impact of the family system elements of gender and communication on the family business system. We draw from family communication pattern theory to theorize that family employee voice in family firms is a direct reflection of the owning family’s communication orientation. Further, we theorize that gender is a unique factor within a family system that alters expected employee voice outcomes associated with the family’s communication orientation. We test our theorizing using primary dyadic data collected from family firm leaders and their family employees in 103 small family firms. Findings indicate that the family’s communication orientation can transfer to the family firm; however, the transfer effects differ by orientation and are contingent on leader-employee gender similarity. We discuss novel insights gleaned from our study and implications for research and practice.