Practicing resilience in family firms:An investigation through phenomenography

Conz, E. and Lamb, P.W. and De Massis, A. (2020) Practicing resilience in family firms:An investigation through phenomenography. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 11 (2). ISSN 1877-8585

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Abstract

Despite the growing interest in resilience in family business, the current literature overlooks the contribution of owners/managers in practicing resilience. We focus on the experiences and practices of owners/managers of family businesses, and apply phenomenography, an interpretive methodology, to capture variations in how owners/managers understand and practice resilience in longstanding Australian and Italian family wineries. The findings show that owners/managers’ resilience practices are determined by four qualitatively different understandings of resilience. Our understanding-based theory provides a novel interpretation of resilience in the family business field, challenging the rationalistic approach by demonstrating that resilience is not universal but multifarious, such that the owners/managers’ understanding of resilience determines how resilience is practiced.