Instrumental Love: Political Marriage and Family Firm Growth

ABSTRACT Political marriage is an under-investigated form of social capital for family firms. In this study, we examine the relationship between political marriage and the growth of family firms. We analyze this relationship using survey data from parent–child dyads of 164 family firms in mainland China, along with qualitative data from eight semi-structured interviews. Drawing on social capital theory and self-verification theory, we propose that political marriage makes a significant contribution to the growth of family firms. We further propose that the effects of a political marriage on firm growth are moderated by the duration of the marriage and the degree of romantic love experienced by the couples. We find that the positive relationship between political marriage and firm growth is stronger when the duration of the marriage is longer. Our results also reveal a three-way interaction effect of political marriage, length of marriage, and romantic love on firm growth. In this interaction, the positive effect of political marriage is strongest when the marriage is long and the degree of romantic love is low (rather than high). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. 摘要 政商联姻是家族企业研究中尚未引起广泛关注的一种重要社会资本形式。基于164对家族企业父母-子女的问卷调查数据以及8位家族企业主的半结构访谈的定性数据分析，本研究检验了政商联姻与家族企业成长之间的关系。基于社会资本理论以及自我验证理论，我们认为政商联姻对家族企业的成长具有正向影响。此外，研究结果表明婚姻持续时间与夫妻之间感知的浪漫爱情程度对政商联姻与家族企业成长的关系具有显著的调节作用，即当结婚时间越长时，政商联姻与企业成长之间的正向关系更为显著。我们的研究结果还证实了政商联姻、婚姻持续时间与浪漫爱情对企业成长的三维交互作用，即当婚姻持续时间越长，而夫妻之间感知的浪漫爱情程度越低的情况下，政商联姻对企业成长的积极影响最为显著。