Family Tradition and Social Responsibility in Family Business：Based on the Case Study of Joru Group

Deng Shaojun; Yu Baoping; Zhou Sheng

doi:doi:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20220817.103

Summary

The relationship mechanism between family tradition and social responsibility in family business is still unclear. The research on the former usually focuses on the handling mechanism of “innovation paradox” and “inheritance paradox”, while the research on the latter involves the influence of family involvement but is often limited to family ownership and control. Therefore, there are few intersections between the two major fields in the existing research. Based on the perspective of the integration of “tradition-as-constraint” and “tradition-as-resource”, this paper explores the interactive relationship in the context of Oriental culture between family tradition and social responsibility in family business through the case study of Joru Group.

The research shows that the “tradition of kindness and filial piety” “tradition of goodwill” and “tradition of etiquette”, which are deeply influenced by Chinese traditional family ethics, have an important impact on the social responsibility in family business. Specifically, through the creation, interpretation, dissemination and promotion of family traditional stories and rituals, playing an exemplary role, promoting the construction of institution and culture that help to internalize traditions in family business, the chief of family business can help family members and family business employees to form specific ethical values. Family tradition can provide necessary emotional support for social responsibility in family business and guide them to focus more on the public welfare field of “filial piety to the old and caring for the young”. Responding to the call of family elders and believing in good karma is probably the most primitive motivation of social responsibility in family business. Furthermore, the practice of social responsibility in family business will also have a reverse effect on family tradition, which helps to give new connotation and interpretation to family tradition in the new historical situation, and promotes the inheritance, protection and promotion of family tradition.

This paper constructs the interactive relationship between family tradition and social responsibility in family business from a theoretical level, which makes up for the lack of dialogue and integration in the two major fields of existing research. It enriches the research on the types and connotations of organizational tradition and family tradition, highlights the positive value orientation of Chinese family ethical traditions and the positive effect of traditional virtues on social responsibility in family business, and provides new evidence for the study of organizational tradition on the situational application of family business in the context of Oriental culture. At the same time, it further clarifies the theoretical path relationship between family tradition, social emotional wealth and social responsibility in family business. From a practical perspective, this paper also provides new insights and inspiration for promoting Chinese family business to better assume social responsibility and carry forward the fine family tradition with distinctive characteristics of Chinese traditional culture under the background of common prosperity in China.