Barriers or motivation? Career progress in the family firm: daughters' perspective

Abstract

Women are under-represented in high-level management and administrative positions in family businesses. To date, the research on career motivation remains in the shadow of research on gender barriers. By acknowledging the relation between the two, it is proposed to look holistically at the problem and to empirically examine the relation between motivation, barriers, and position of daughters in family business. By conducting SEM analysis, it was found that motivation to act ethically is positively associated with high positions and that barriers “specific to family business” are negatively related to high positions. This article validates two scales and makes methodological contributions to the stream of research on daughters in family business that to date relies mainly on qualitative studies.