Familienunternehmen und KMU

Transcription

1 Familienunternehmen und KMU Series editors A. Hack, Bern, Switzerland A. Calabrò, Witten, Germany T. Zellweger, St. Gallen, Switzerland F. W. Kellermanns, Charlotte, USA H. Frank, Wien, Austria

2 Both Family Firms and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) feature a number of distinct behaviors and characteristics which could provide them with a competitive advantage in the market but could also lead to certain risks. The scientific series at hand presents research which provides an empirical and theoretical contribution to the investigation on these specific characteristics and their impact on business practice. The overall aim of this series is to advance the development of theory in the areas of family firm and SME management. More information about this series at

3 Sandra Wolf Signaling Family Firm Identity Familiy Firm Identification and its Effects on Job Seekers Perceptions about a Potential Employer Foreword by Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack

4 Sandra Wolf Witten/Herdecke, Germany Dissertation University of Witten/Herdecke, 2017 ISSN ISSN (electronic) Familienunternehmen und KMU ISBN ISBN (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Gabler Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer Gabler imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, Wiesbaden, Germany

5 Foreword In a competitive environment that is characterized by the increasing dynamics of innovation, progressive demographic change and a constantly evolving knowledge-based society, the skills and competencies of the workforce are becoming more and more significant. The "war for talent" a business press catchphrase has become a reality for many companies. How can employers in this day and age still positively differentiate themselves from the competition? Recent empirical studies show that employer attractiveness is improved through the use of a simple communication signal, namely by signalling that one is a family business. The fundamentally positive image of family businesses compared to anonymous and publicly owned large companies can be robustly proven. However, two important aspects, from a practical marketing perspective, remain in the dark. It is unclear which branding elements cause young talent to perceive companies as family businesses and why identification as a family business leads to improved employer attractiveness. Both points are important with regard to the improvement of the communication process. Furthermore, from a scientific point of view, the two aspects are highly relevant. In particular, the question of "why" immediately arises when one not only observes phenomena, but also attempts to understand their causes and origins more precisely. These two specific questions are at the centre of Ms. Wolf's work. As a proven brand expert and an outstanding scientist, the topic area presents a double motivation for her: The results of the work promise not only to generate significant practice implications, but they will also serve the important field of family business research. This motivation, combined with a high level of expertise and knowledge, leads to this extraordinary, informative and innovative analysis. In addition to a prepared and structured literature review, which can be recommended as basic reading for any scientist in this field, Ms. Wolf elaborates on the informational effects of various job vacancy advertisement branding elements, based on an empirical and experimental research structure. The results show that picture language alone is insufficient with regard to rendering a company identifiable as a family business. Instead, clear designation as a family business, for example, in the tagline or via a family-specific brand name, is of greater effect. This important practical marketing input is further enriched via extremely exciting and highly innovative analysis. The author makes use of the latest findings concerning marketing research into the attractiveness of products and adapts them to employer branding. In young talent, it is shown that both authenticity and trust are important influencing factors on employer attractiveness, and these assessments can be improved via the identification of an employer as a family business. As a result, Ms. Wolf not only fosters family business research, but also demonstrates the general applicability of current consumer research authenticity measures.

6 VI Foreword It is of great importance for family business research that Ms. Wolf utilises experimental research methods, which are rarely used in this research arena. It is precisely for the analysis of attitudes towards family businesses that they are immediately available. Over 500 subjects participated in the identification and attractiveness assessment experiments. It should be emphasized that the author was able to impart her practical knowledge with regard to the experimental design for example, with visual designs of job vacancy advertisements. Hence, the findings garner additional validity. Moreover, she uses highly innovative questionnaires, meticulously examines the latest experimental methodology findings and always critically discusses concrete implementation. In summary, Ms. Sandra Wolf's dissertation represents an outstanding scientific achievement, with a high degree of practical relevance. I am sure that the empirical findings will provide an important basis for future research work in the areas of marketing research and human resources management, and that it will lead to new perspectives regarding family business types. To that effect, I wish the work a broad readership both in research and in practice. Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack

7 Acknowledgement I foremost thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack for supporting me and for always believing in my work. I thank Prof. Dr. Arist von Schlippe for inspiring me with his thoughts during our colloquia and for being my second supervisor. I thank Prof. Dr. Birgit Felden who strongly encouraged me to write this thesis. I thank the following professors for making it possible to conduct my experiment during their lectures: Prof. Dr. Carolin Decker (Chair of Management and Organization, Universität Bremen), Prof. Dr. Peter Witt (Chair of Technology and Innovation Management, Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Landfester (Chair of Mechanical Engineering, Fachhochschule Darmstadt), Prof. Dr. Annika Halder (Hochschule Ulm), Prof. Dr. Karsten Kilian (Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Würzburg-Schweinfurth and Friedrich-Alexander Universtität Erlangen-Nürnberg). I thank Dr. Nils Kraiczy who taught me how to like statistics. I give my utmost thank to my family, my husband Heiko and my two kids Henri and Kira who helped me with their love, their support and their belief in my capabilities. I especially thank my husband Heiko for giving me the time to accomplish this thesis and for endlessly motivating me. I especially thank my daughter Kira for working so many hours next to me, knitting, drawing, sewing or just entertaining me. I especially thank my son Henri for counting questionnaires, and for asking me about the progress of my work. And both of them for simply being so patient. Sandra Wolf

8 Contents Foreword... V Acknowledgement... VII Contents... IX Figures... XIII Tables... XV Abbreviations... XVII 1. Introduction Relevance and background The family business term Literature review Review methodology General characteristics of articles Applied theories Key findings Literature gaps and future research Research questions Thesis overview and main contributions Research Approach Theoretical framework Signaling theory Corporate identity Trust research Methodology Determination of the research setting Specification on the experimental design Choice of the participants in the experiment Measurement and variation of the variables Incentives and information on the experiment Statistical techniques Binary-logistic regression Serial mediation and moderating effect Conclusion... 43

9 X Contents 3. Exploring the effects of brand elements on signaling and identifying family firm identity Introduction Theoretical background Signaling theory signal observability and signal costs Corporate identity and its visual identity system Derivation of hypotheses The brand name as an explicit brand signal A tagline as an explicit brand signal A key visual as an implicit signal Interaction effects of brand elements Experience effects Methodology Design and stimuli Sample and procedure Variables and measures Results Discussion Limitations and future research Conclusion Excursus: Stakeholders' family firm perceptions Variables, measures and statistical technique Discussion Family firm identity as a signal to influence perceived trustworthiness in initial recruitment processes Introduction Theoretical background Signaling theory signaling unobservable quality Trust research Derivation of hypotheses Identification, perceived brand authenticity and perceived benevolence Perceived brand authenticity, perceived benevolence and applicant attraction The mediating effects of perceived brand authenticity and perceived benevolence Individual values as moderators Research design Sample... 92

10 Contents XI Variables and measures Analysis and results Discussion Limitations and future research Conclusion Conclusion Thesis summary Theoretical implications Practical implications Limitations and future research Appendix References

11 Figures Figure 1-1: The black box of family firm identification 3 Figure 1-2: Identified groups of the literature review 7 Figure 1-3: Focused research groups and study overview 27 Figure 1-4: Thesis overview 30 Figure 2-1: Applied theories and corresponding chapters 31 Figure 2-2: Applied elements of signaling theory 34 Figure 2-3: Corporate identity and identification 36 Figure 2-4: Integrative framework for the design of experimental investigations 39 Figure 3-1: Signal observability and signal costs in the family firm context 49 Figure 3-2: Sample characteristic (N = 409) 61 Figure 4-1: Theoretical framework based on signaling theory and trust research 84 Figure 4-2: Conceptual model of the relationship between family business identification and applicant attraction serially mediated by perceived brand authenticity and perceived benevolence 89 Figure 4-3: Schwartz circumplex of values 90 Figure 4-4: Hypothesized moderation with Schwartz values 92 Figure 4-5: Sample characteristic (N = 543) 94 Figure 4-6: Direct regression paths 102 Figure 4-7: Interaction of job seekers' perceived benevolence with job seekers' personal values and applicant attraction 105

12 Tables Table 1-1: Overview of selected articles for literature review 15 Table 2-1: Overview of research studies I and II 44 Table 3-1: Experimental design with eight conditions 57 Table 3-2: Conditions of 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design between subjects 57 Table 3-3: Advertisements according to conditions 59 Table 3-4: Descriptive statistics and correlations (Cramer's V and 2 ) 62 Table 3-5: Mean, standard error and sample size according to conditions 63 Table 3-6: Logistic regression, main effects (aggregated results) 63 Table 3-7: Interaction effects tagline on name if name is family name 64 Table 3-8: Interaction effects tagline on name if name is no family name 64 Table 3-9: Interaction effects name on tagline if tagline is not family-related 64 Table 3-10: Interaction effects name on tagline if tagline is family-related 65 Table 3-11: Interaction effects for respondents with family firm experience 65 Table 3-12: Interaction effects for respondents without family firm experience 65 Table 3-13: Binary regression analysis for manipulations for no family business brand elements vs family business brand elements 67 Table 3-14: Binary regression analysis for manipulations comparing family business brand elements 69 Table 3-15: Results of Mann-Whitney-U test for general attributes 75 Table 3-16: Results of Mann-Whitney-U test for employer attributes 75 Table 4-1: Scale items and reliabilities 98 Table 4-2: Means, standard deviations and correlations 100 Table 4-3: Regression for serial mediation 103 Table 5-1: Overview of key findings 113 Table 5-2: Overview of theoretical implications according to chapters 115 Table 5-3: Overview of practical implications according to relevant target groups 117

13 Abbreviations Ad Advertisement BA Business administration CBBE Customer-based brand equity CEO Chief executive officer CI Corporate identity CVIS Corporate visual identity system df Degree of freedom et al. et alii, et aliae EBBE Employee-based brand equity EFA Exploratory factor analysis e.g. Exempli gratia, for example ELM Elaboration likelihood model etc. et cetera FF Family firm FIFS Family influence familiness scale FMCG Fast-moving consumer goods FN Family-named F-PEC Family (F) power (P), experience (E), culture (C) HR Human resource IE Industrial engineering IFB Institute Family Business ME Mechanical engineering NFN Non-family named OI Organizational identity OLS Ordinary least squares p p-value PBA Perceived brand authenticity PCT Personal construct theory RBV Resource-based view SD Standard deviation SE Standard error SEM Structural equation model SEW Socio-emotional wealth Sig. Significance SME Small and medium-sized enterprises

14 XVIII Abbreviations SVS URL U.S. VIF vs Schwartz value survey Uniform resource locator United States (of America) Variance inflation factor versus