The Effect of Psychological Ownership on Corporate Entrepreneurship: Comparisons Between Family and Nonfamily Top Management Team Members

Does family membership differentiate family and nonfamily top management team (TMT) members’ ownership-based motivations to pursue corporate entrepreneurship? We adopt the concept of psychological ownership to answer this question. Based on a sample of 192 TMT members from 90 Korean companies, this study found that family and nonfamily TMT members do not differ in the levels of psychological ownership of the organization or that of the job, nor do the two groups differ in the emphasis they place on corporate entrepreneurship. Family involvement and nepotism mitigate this relationship, but only for nonfamily TMT members. These results help reconcile discrepant findings for family versus nonfamily TMT members’ agency and stewardship behaviors