Socioemotional Wealth Perspective on the Manifestation of Entrepreneurial Orientation within Saudi Family Firms

This study investigates the impact of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) on family firm entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in a tribalistic society, and the moderating effect of generational involvement on this relationship. Our data set comprises 241 private wholly owned family firms in Saudi Arabia. We examine EO as a strategic orientation expressed in terms of both what firms do behaviorally, and how managers approach risk-taking attitudinally. Our study finds that SEW is positively related to firms’ entrepreneurial behavior, but not managerial attitudes toward risk-taking. However, the positive effects of SEW on firms’ entrepreneurial behavior diminish as the number of generations involved in the family business increases. The implications for enabling entrepreneurship in transforming economies adhering to strong cultural norms are discussed.