Maternal Matters: A Narrative Analysis of Mother-Daughter Family Business Dyads

Abstract

The literature on parent-adult child family business dyads is traditionally focused on father-child led firms. These studies are predominantly concentrated on intergenerational transfers in family firms and include both father-son dyads and a growing body of father-daughter literature (cf. Davis, 1982; Davis & Tagiuri, 1989; Dumas, 1990; Hollander & Bukowitz, 1990; Humphreys, 2013). Less visible are mother-son family business dyadic studies (cf. Kaslow, 1998). Higginson’s (2010) recent contribution examining relational factors and knowledge transfer in mother-daughter businesses and Vera and Dean’s (2005) comparative study of succession in father-daughter and mother-daughter led firms are among the very few examining the mother-daughter family business dyad. This study examines four mother-daughter family business dyads who own their firms. Each daughter is also a mother. Using the life story interviewing techniques and tools of Atkinson (1998) and McAdams (2008), and an adapted family history method (Miller, 2000), this research takes an interpretive, narrative approach to examine the key influences shaping these dyads. Firstly, this study identifies key influences and then explains how these have contributed to shaping these family business women, their families and their approaches to their business undertakings. Within-dyad and across-dyad findings across four overarching themes: the influence of family of origin, the influence of created family and motherhood, the influence of mother-daughter relationship and career, business and opportunity journey contribute to shared narratives for both generations. A “baseline understanding” (Gross, 1998; Shenton, 2004) informing a baseline typology was derived for the four mother-daughter family business dyads in this study. This was garnered from the shared narratives using axes of business approach: entrepreneurial or small business, income and time. The categorizations that emerged were ‘The Lifestylers’, ‘The Artisans,’ ‘The Growth-Opportunists’ and ‘The Dependents.’ This baseline typology or characterization of these four dyads provides a starting point towards further understanding of the mother-daughter phenomenon in future studies. The dearth of studies on mother-child firms indicate that a potentially rich contribution in family business discourse is being largely overlooked. Nelton (1998), Vera and Dean (2005) and Higginson (2010) have called for more research on mother-daughter family business successions. This study, examining two generations of family business women leading their own family firms, contributes to further gendered discourse on the influences shaping mother-daughter family business dyads and goes some way towards answering their call.