This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Litz, R. A. Articles by Stewart, A. C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Charity Begins at Home: Family Firms and Patterns of Community Involvement

University of Manitoba

Alice C. Stewart

Ohio State University

Research on philanthropy has made major advances in recent years; however, one issue remains largely unaddressed: the relationship between intraorganizational family-based relatedness and firm philanthropic involvement. The authors seek to remedy this gap by offering and testing the proposition that family firms are more likely to pursue philanthropic involvements. Using a recent typology of family firms, the authors report on the community involvement activities of more than 300 small community hardware stores. Given the small, informal nature of operation and community activity, the authors explore not only their philanthropic activity but also broader community involvement in such areas as business, youth, religious, and service organizations. An interesting trend emerges; firms reporting greater levels of family involvement report greater levels of community involvement than firms identifying themselves as nonfamily enterprises. The authors conclude by reflecting on what this finding suggests for future philanthropy research.

References

• Astrachan, J. H. (1988). Family firm and community culture. Family Business Review, 1(2), 165-189.
• Beckhard, R., & Dyer, W. G., Jr. (1983). Managing continuity in the family-owned business. Organizational Dynamics, 12, 5-12.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Berle, A. A., & Means, G. C. (1934). The modern corporation and private property. New York: Macmillan.
• Beutler, I. F., Burr, W. R., Bahr, K. S., & Herrin, D. A. (1989). The family realm: Theoretical contributions for understanding its uniqueness. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 805-816.[CrossRef]
• Boulding, K. (1970). Beyond economics: Essays on society, religion, and ethics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Buhl, L. (1996). The ethical frame of corporate philanthropy. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 127-143). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Burlingame, D. F., & Frishkoff, P. A. (1996). How does firm size affect firm philanthropy? In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 86-104). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Burlingame, D. F., & Young, D. R. (1996). Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Chua, J., Sharma, P., & Chrisman, J. (1996). Defining the family business as behavior. Proceedings of the 1996 Meeting of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (Entrepreneurship Division), 17(21), 1-8.
• Coutsoukis, P. E. (1998). Theoretical framework for studying corporate philanthropy. Dissertation proposal, Boston College.
• Covin, T. J. (1994). Profiling preference for employment in family-owned firms. Family Business Review, 7(3), 287-296.
• Cray, E. (1978). Levi’s. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Danco, L. (1980). Inside the family business. Cleveland, OH: Center for Family Business.
• Danco, L. (1982). Beyond survival: A business owner’s guide for success. Cleveland, OH: Center for Family.
• Davis, P., & Stern, D. (1980). Adaptation, survival, and growth of family-owned businesses: An integrated systems perspective. Human Relations, 34(4), 207-224.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Dillman, D. A. (1978). Mail and telephone surveys: The total design method. New York: John Wiley.
• Ehrenfeld, T. (1995). The demise of mom and pop?Inc., 17(1), 46-48.
• Hallett, A., & Hallett, D. (1997). Encyclopedia of entrepreneurs. New York: John Wiley.
• Handler, W. (1989). Methodological issues and considerations in studying family businesses. Family Business Review, 2(3), 257-276.
• Harr, J. E., & Johnson, P. J. (1991). The Rockefeller conscience: An American family in public and private life. New York: Scribner.
• Harris, D. J., Martinez, J., & Ward, J. (1994). Is strategy different for family-owned businesses?Family Business Review, 7(2), 159-174.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Himmelstein, J. L. (1996). Corporate philanthropy and business power. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 144-157). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Katz, J., & Paine, L. (1994). Levi Strauss & Co.: Global sourcing (A) (Case No. 9-395-127). Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
• Korngold, A., & Voudouris, E. H. (1996). Corporate volunteerism: Strategic community involvement. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 23-40). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Lansberg, I., Perrow, E. L., & Rogolsky, S. (1988). Family business as an emerging field. Family Business Review, 1(1), 1-8.
• Lewin, D., & Sabater, J. M. (1996). Corporate philanthropy and firm performance. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 105-126). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Litz, R. A. (1995). The family business: Toward definitional clarity. Family Business Review, 8(2), 71-82.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Litz, R. A. (1997). The family firm’s exclusion from business school research: Explaining the void, addressing the opportunity. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 21(3), 55-71.
• Litz, R. A. (1998). Self-deception and corporate social responsibility: Amicro-level conceptualization. Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, 15, 125-143.
• Marrus, M. (1991). Mr. Sam: The life and times of Samuel Bronfman. Toronto: Viking.
• Meek, C., Woodworth, W., & Dyer, W. G., Jr. (1988). Managing by the numbers: Absentee owners and the decline of American industry. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
• Miller, A. (1961). All my sons. Middlesex, UK: Penguin.
• Miller, C. (1992, September 28). Big chains battle for market share in home improvement. Marketing News, 26(20), 1-1, 10-11.
• Mintzberg, H., & Waters, J. (1985). Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal, 6, 257-272.
• Morris, M. H., & Lewis, P. S. (1991). Entrepreneurship as a significant factor in societal quality of life. Journal of Business Research, 23, 21-36.[CrossRef]
• Newman, P. (1978). Bronfman dynasty: The Rothschilds of the new world. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
• Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy. New York: Free Press.
• Preston, L., & Post, J. (1975). Private management and public policy: The principle of public responsibility. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Smith, C. (1996). Desperately seeking data: Why research is crucial to the new corporate philanthropy. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 1-6). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Stehle, V. (1998, May 21). Philanthropy is in the family genes. Chronicle of Philanthropy, 10(15), 1-1.
• Thompson, J., Smith, H., & Hood, J. (1993). Charitable contributions by small businesses. Journal of Small Business Management, 31, 35-51.
• Upton, N. B., & Heck, R. (1997). The family business dimension of entrepreneurship. In D. L. Sexton & R. W. Smilor (Eds.), Entrepreneurship 2000. Chicago: Upstart.
• Ward, J. (1987). Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Welsh, J. A., & White, J. F. (1981). A small business is not a little big business. Harvard Business Review, 59(4), 18-32.
• Wood, D., & Jones, R. (1996). Research in corporate social performance: What have we learned? In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 41-85). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Wortman, M. (1995). Critical issues in family business: An international perspective of practice and research. In Proceedings of the ICSB 40th World Conference (pp. 53-76). Sydney, Australia: Institute of Industrial Economics.
• Yankey, J. A. (1996). Corporate support of nonprofit organizations. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 7-22). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Young, D. R., & Burlingame, D. F. (1996). Paradigm lost: Research toward a new understanding of corporate philanthropy. In D. F. Burlingame & D. R. Young (Eds.), Corporate philanthropy at the crossroads (pp. 158-176). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1, 131-148 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764000291008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Litz, R. A. Articles by Stewart, A. C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?