Institutional carriers of values: Exploring values entrenchment strategies of founders and next-generation leaders in family businesses

Abstract

This study aims to provide insights into the values entrenchment strategies that indigenous Black founders and next-generation (NextGen) leaders use in their efforts to entrench values into their family businesses. The study uses a qualitative methodology and an inductive approach, and draws on seven indigenous African family business cases operating in various industries within the services sector. Our findings show that founders and NextGen leaders use explicit and implicit carriers as they strive to entrench values in their family businesses. It was established that these leaders are influential institutional constituents who contribute to entrenching values into the family business and, by doing so, shape institutional knowledge. Our study contributes to family business literature by extending the founder centrality to include that of the NextGen leaders in values entrenchment, explaining how these leaders articulate their personal and family values and how they seek to translate them into family business values.