Purpose

Aiming at the key issue of interpersonal interaction process between successors and top management teams in the context of family business trans-generational entrepreneurship, this paper aims to explore the motivation, action and results of interpersonal conflict between these two subjects mentioned above.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses grounded theoretical research methods based on the research objects of three family businesses with both inheritance and transformation needs.

Findings

Motivation difference, mediation mode and relationship utilization, that is, the successor and top management team take the goal-orientation, interest orientation and rational tendency as the starting point for relationship coordination. Then it mediates the interpersonal conflicts through compromise, collaboration and compliance, and ultimately provide successors with resources, opportunities, capabilities and motivation advantages to promote trans-generational entrepreneurship. Second, the path of relationship coordination comes from the background of social embedding, that is, the motivation difference comes from the embedding of motivation seeking, the mediation mode comes from the embedding of mediation elements and the relationship utilization comes from the embedding of relationship optimization. The research conclusions not only provide a theoretical framework for family businesses to solve the problems of interpersonal conflicts faced by family businesses but also have practical guiding significance for the trans-generational entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

There are two theoretical contributions in this study. First, the research starting point of social embeddedness theory from the perspective of interpersonal relationships at the microlevel is revised. Since Granovetter (Granovetter, 1985) put forward the theory of social embeddedness, its research scope has been gradually expanded, but the mainstream research in the past focused on analyzing the social network embeddedness of enterprises to obtain social capital from the macro- and meso-level (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). In fact, this may deviate from the essential interpretation of Granovetter’s theory of social embeddedness, while this study returns to the study of interpersonal relationships. Second, a theoretical model of relationship coordination for successors and top management team is put forward in general. On the basis of the motivation, action and result of interpersonal interaction between the successor and top management team, the interpersonal coordination action path and embedded logic during trans-generational entrepreneurship of family businesses are revealed, which enriched the research scope of social embedded theory in family business.

中文翻译：

---

社会嵌入背景下家族企业继任者与高管团队关系协调——以跨代创业为例

目的

本文针对家族企业跨代创业背景下继任者与高层管理团队的人际互动过程这一关键问题，旨在探讨上述两个主体之间人际冲突的动因、作用和结果。

设计/方法/途径

本文采用扎根理论研究方法，以三个兼具传承和转型需求的家族企业为研究对象。

发现

动机差异、调解模式与关系利用，即继任者和高层管理团队以目标导向、利益导向和理性倾向作为关系协调的出发点。然后通过妥协、协作和顺从调解人际冲突，最终为继任者提供资源、机会、能力和激励优势，促进跨代创业。第二，关系协调路径来自于社会嵌入的背景，即动机差异来自于动机寻求的嵌入，中介模式来自于中介元素的嵌入，关系利用来自于关系优化的嵌入.

原创性/价值

本研究有两个理论贡献。首先，对微观人际关系视角下社会嵌入理论的研究出发点进行了修正。自格兰诺维特（Granovetter，1985）提出社会嵌入理论以来，其研究范围逐渐扩大，但以往的主流研究主要集中在分析企业的社会网络嵌入，以从宏观和中观层面获取社会资本。水平（Nahapiet 和 Ghoshal，1998）。事实上，这可能偏离了格兰诺维特社会嵌入理论的本质解释，而本研究又回到了人际关系的研究。其次，总体提出了继任者与高管团队关系协调的理论模型。