Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Concept: Individual Perspective in Family Business

A lot of concern is given to the family and the family as a collective, but the actions and roles of individual family members are similarly crucial. In this paper, we apply Hirschman's concept of Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970) to study the variations of the individual members’ roles within the family business system. We aim to draw attention to the development and complexity of the family business system and to understand the nuances of family member participation in the family business. We use a longitudinal family business development case and build a typology of the individual behavior in the family business to present a modified exit, voice, and loyalty concept. We argue that the satisfaction and choices of the family members at large affect the family business system and that categorizing the individual behavior of family members in these situations is useful to understand the family business dynamics further.