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Leadership Dynamics and Institutional Logics in Family Firms in Arab Culture

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Handbook of Global Leadership and Followership

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Abstract

This chapter tackles leadership dynamics in family firms in the Arab culture proposing a prototype of an effective leader in such a context. Family firms operate according to specific family logics that are often challenged by the profit-minded business logics (Fathallah et al., 2019). This is further complicated from other competing logics emanating from cultural and religious considerations. The collective nature of Arab culture means that nepotism becomes a hallmark of organizational behavior; this puts pressures on performance potentially impeding profitability and growth. Despite this, a hybrid form of nepotism might succeed in assimilating between conflicting logics (Sidani YM, Thornberry J, Bus Ethics Q 23(1):69–96, 2013). Leading a family firm requires careful navigation through those various, often conflicting, institutional logics. This chapter concludes with what type of leadership would be required, what factors lead to better usage of family talent, and what it takes to succeed in managing relationships with various stakeholders, from both within and from outside members of the family.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Yusuf Sidani & Yasmeen Kaissi

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  1. Yusuf Sidani
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  2. Yasmeen Kaissi
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Correspondence to Yusuf Sidani .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA

    Joan F. Marques

  2. Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    June Schmieder-Ramirez

  3. Robert Morris University, Moon, PA, USA

    Petros G. Malakyan

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Sidani, Y., Kaissi, Y. (2023). Leadership Dynamics and Institutional Logics in Family Firms in Arab Culture. In: Marques, J.F., Schmieder-Ramirez, J., Malakyan, P.G. (eds) Handbook of Global Leadership and Followership. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21544-5_45

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