Influence of Culture on the Operations of Entrepreneurial Family Business in Nigeria
- June 5, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Category: Education
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue V, May 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186
Influence of Culture on the Operations of Entrepreneurial Family Business in Nigeria
Olaore Rafiu Akinpelu1, Olakunle Modupe2, Ajayi Olayemi O.3
1Directorate of Entrepreneurship Education, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Nigeria
2,3School of Vocational and Technical Education, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Nigeria
Abstract:-The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of culture on the operation of an entrepreneurial family business in Nigeria. Using a multiple case approach, we explore the contributions of family values, manners and customs, funding, education, traditions and ethics in relation to a family-owned business. This study enables us to deepen our understanding of cultural influence on the entrepreneurial family business. The results reveal that the operation and sustainability of family-owned businesses are ascribable to family culture.
Keywords: Culture, Entrepreneurship, Family, Family firm, Tradition.
I. INTRODUCTION
Culture refers to common ways of thinking and behaving that are passed on from parents to children or transmitted by a social organisation (Histrich, Peters & Shepherd, 2013). According to Triandis (2000), culture denotes an improved adaptation of members to a particular ecology, that includes the knowledge that people need to have in order to function effectively in their social environment. Culture is the core values and beliefs of individuals within a society, which are formed in complex knowledge systems during childhood and reinforced throughout life (Hofstede, 1994, 2001). A family owned business is one that includes two or more members of a family having financial control of the company (Scarborough, 2013).
Samovar and Porter (1994), opined that culture is the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations, through individual and group striving. While culture has been defined in many ways, Hisrich, et al., (2008) argued that it is a common way of thinking and behaving that are passed on from parents to children or transmitted by social agents, developed and then reinforced through social pressure. Culture is learned behaviour and the identity of an individual and society (Hisrich, et al., 2008).
