RESPONSIBLE ENGAGEMENT FAMILY SMES: WHAT FOUNDATIONS?

Abstract

We examine the foundations of small family business social responsibility, mobilizing the conceptual
model proposed by Berrone, Cruz & Gomez-Mejia (2012). This approach predicts the multiplicity
of family business’goals and proposes their synthesis in a specific conceptual framework. This model
suggests that family shareholders are typically committed to the preservation of the socioemotional
wealth (SEW) they keep from their family business. The SEW model is confronted with small business
social responsibility research (Quairel-Lanoizelée, 2012). It enables us to elaborate some hypotheses
which are discussed. By that, we emphasize the specificity of small family business social responsibility
compared with non family small business and with large family firms.