Evolution of Stewardship Across Family and Business Goals: Toward a Stewardship Transition Framework

Nehad Ali, Boyka Simeonova, Mathew Hughes

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · 2025 · Volume 49 · Issue 4

Abstract

Drawing on goal-setting and stewardship theories, this study examines the management of family and business goals in family firms under transgenerational complexity, presenting a dynamic model of family stewardship. Through multiple case studies, we identify four distinct stewardship strategies, each with a corresponding governance structure: cultivating family stewardship (with family-dense governance), professionalizing family stewardship (with professionalized governance), harnessing external stewardship (with externally dense governance), and perpetuating external stewardship (with public companies’ governance). These strategies shift from family-centric to business-centric goal-setting approaches in sustaining the family firm. The study introduces stewardship transition capability as a missing cog for managing these transitions.

Keywords

stewardship, governance, family business, transition, transgenerational complexity, firm-level, capability, qualitative study

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