The Moderating Effect of U.S. Regional Collectivism on Acquired Family Firm Success

Abstract

The following proposal seeks to advance studies on U.S. regional characteristics and their effects on business expansion through firm acquisition. The investigation will augment regional cultural dimension studies by Vandello and Cohen, (1999) and expand upon applications of Cultural Dimension Theory within country borders. It is the intent of the researcher to extrapolate Individualism and Collectivism traits of U.S. regional territories and the perceived success of acquired Family Business in the associated region. Literature suggests that, family businesses are representative of local ethos and significantly correlated with collectivist cultures across national boundaries (Granovetter 1994; Dutta 1996; Chakrabarty 2009). This study will seek to determine if there is a relationship between perceived post-acquisition performance of acquired family firms and the concentration of Individualism or Collectivism traits of specific states or regions within the US country borders.