Narrative memory work of employees in family businesses : how founding stories shape organizational identification
Abstract
This study is concerned with how founding stories are sustained across multiple generations of employees in family firms and how these stories influence organizational identification. Drawing on a social memory perspective and narrative memory work, we explore the retold founding stories of employees in a large agricultural family firm. Our study demonstrates that founding stories transform firsthand memories into collective memory across multiple generations through intertwining intradiegetic storytelling with material and relational processes. The effortful work of remembering together across familial and social relations, spaces, and embodied ways explains how successive generations understand their belongingness to the organization.
Citation
Hoon , C , Brinkmann , J & Baluch , A M 2023 , ' Narrative memory work of employees in family businesses : how founding stories shape organizational identification ' , Family Business Review , vol. 36 , no. 1 , pp. 37-62 . https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865231159475
Publication
Family Business Review
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0894-4865Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865231159475
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