Examining pseudo-family systems in nonfamily enterprises

In spite of frequent use of family metaphors in nonfamily firms, few explorations have been conducted into the phenomenon of pseudo-families in nonfamily business environment. Using four cases of nonfamily sporting organizations, this paper aims to draw attention to the similarities and differences between a traditional family model with the pseudo-families observed, as well as compare the effect of such pseudo-families on the organization with the effect of familiness on a family firm as introduced by Habbershon & Williams (1999).

The use of social constructionist viewpoint made it possible to model pseudo-families based on the family metaphors used by individuals in several nonfamily sporting organizations. This, in turn, allowed further analysis of the pseudo-family using established models of a traditional family system.

This paper concludes that cases of pseudo-families can be observed in certain nonfamily enterprises, although they do not necessarily exhibit all the components found in traditional family model. Despite their differences with the traditional families, the observed pseudo-families behave and affect their respective nonfamily firms in ways similar to a family and the family firm.