Psychological Ownership in Heterogeneous Family Firms: A Promising Path and a Call for Further Investigation

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This essay responds to recent calls for more research on family firms’ heterogeneity from an ownership perspective. We complement the legal and economic view of ownership by focusing on the concept of psychological ownership (feeling of possessions) in family firms. We explore its dynamics, processes and implications as well as its limited inclusion in the family business field to date. Building on a brief review of the literature, we suggest the concept of psychological ownership can help expand our understanding of family firms’ heterogeneity. Additionally, we put forward a future research agenda for psychological ownership in family firms.