Founder centrality and top management team social network effects on top management behavioral integration and firm performance in family businesses

The problem. This was a strategic management research study of the effects of founder centrality and top management team social networks on top management team behavioral integration and firm performance in family business. The use of social networks as a strategic management tool has gained interest in the past few years. An examination of prior family business research and literature shows very little, if any, attention has been paid to social networks in the family business and especially the concept of founder centrality. Most research in family business has concentrated on issues such as succession, conflict, financing, and other issues that researchers have considered unique to the family business. Since the founder is the most important person in the family business, there is need to understand how he/she affects the strategic direction of the firm and the formation of social networks among the top management team members.; Method. A descriptive correlational study was conducted. A survey was sent to 1186 family businesses in the West Coast and Southeastern parts of the United States. The survey included questionnaires for the founder/CEO and the members of the top management team. The companies were identified from lists of companies in the Click Data databases and regional chambers of commerce.; Results. Significance relationships were found between founder centrality and social network size, range, and strength of ties for both internal and external networks. The relationship between family culture influence, family power influence, and founder centrality were also found to be significant. Other results showed a significant relationship between top management team behavioral integration and firm performance and social capital and firm performance.; The results reaffirmed the importance of the role played by the founder in determining the firm's strategic direction. This was a confirmation that the founder centrality concept is an important strategic management tool.