EMOTIONS IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES: THE FAMILY BANK D’EICHTHAL AND ITS INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN GREECE IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

What role do emotions play in the decision-making processes of family firms? Based on recent
research on the history of emotions, this question is examined in the decision-making process
of the Paris-based family bank d’Eichthal concerning its investment in Greece in the 1830s.
The paper argues, firstly, that the strong emotional ties between one family member sent to
Greece as a broker and the rest of the family in Paris and Munich considerably influenced the
decision-making process of the family. Secondly, the paper examines the difficulties of this
broker, the family´s “rotten apple”, to manage his own emotional life and its expression in a
suitable manner. It argues that the symbolic potential of Greece as the intellectual target of
ardent philhellenism in Europe in the 19th century was important for him to manage this task
in a way that was acceptable to his family.