Pride in family businesses: Authenticity, hubris, and cultural insights

Abstract

Research on family businesses praises the benefits of feeling proud of the family firm. However, pride displayed by next generation family members, who may have (yet) contributed little to the success, can create negative impressions. Building on emotions-as-social-information theory (E-A-S-I), we examine the perceptions of expressed pride in two experiments. Results from Western (Study1; N₁ = 342) and Asian contexts (Study2; N₂ = 98) show that (1) displaying authentic opposed to hubristic pride is more beneficial to the family member’s image, and (2) reveal differences between genders and cultures. We discuss implications for current theorizing and illustrate how the display of the emotion of pride can be used strategically.