Hierarchical Dyadic Congruence in Family Firms: The Interplay of Supervisor and Supervisee Socioemotional Wealth Importance and Familial Status

Abstract

We extend McLarty, Vardaman, and Barnett’s analysis of how family firm supervisor attributes, in terms of familial status and socioemotional wealth importance, affect supervisee performance by considering the supervisee attributes. We further integrate the concept of restricted and generalized social exchange to provide a theoretical basis for how hierarchical dyadic (in)congruence moderates the relationship between supervisee commitment and performance. By providing a more fine-grained conceptualization, we contribute to the family business literature at its organization behavior interface.