A THEORY OF EMOTIONS AND SENTIMENTS IN FAMILY FIRMS: A ROLE FOR HISTORY

Abstract

This article introduces some reflections bringing together three topics – emotions, sentiments
and family capitalism. Family business scholars have approached the issue of emotions and sentiments with caution, largely because of the difficulty of analyzing them without a solid and
sufficiently theoretical framework. To date socioemotional wealth theory (SEW) has represented
the major contribution. This article proposes a new theoretical framework in order to assess
the role of emotions and sentiments in the sphere of family firms.
Sentiments and emotions range from nostalgia and memory, trauma, grief, mourning, empathy,
compassion, fear, anger, anxiety, hate, love, desire, jealousy, envy, greed, and also include
admiration, revenge and competitiveness. Such feelings exist among members of the same
generation or, even more often, across generations and they have significant influence on
individuals who have to make decisions. Such sentiments and emotions thus contribute to the
way in which decisions are taken, affecting the overall wealth of the enterprise itself.
The article contributes to arguments supporting the use of history as a way to improve theorybuilding in general. More specifically, a history approach adds particular value in such a difficult
and unpredictable area of analysis as that of the impact of emotions on the management of
the family firm.