arbiter
JournalsAccount

Guardians of Reputation: How Stewardship Climate Mobilizes Nonfamily Employees to Defend Against Reputational Threats

Sarah Burrows et al.

Family Business Review2025https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251370851article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Family firms enjoy strong reputations, but deep ties between family and business make them vulnerable to reputational threats. We examined the psychological ownership (PO) gap between family and nonfamily employees and its effect on reputational defense behaviors, theorizing stewardship climate as one way to inspire nonfamily employees to defend the firm’s reputation “like family.” Using a multisource study of Irish family firms, we show that stewardship climates elevate nonfamily employees’ PO, motivating them to defend the firm’s reputation. Our study validates a new firm-level measure of reputational defense behavior and reveals the power of stewardship, especially when reputation feels threatened.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251370851

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{sarah2025,
  title        = {{Guardians of Reputation: How Stewardship Climate Mobilizes Nonfamily Employees to Defend Against Reputational Threats}},
  author       = {Sarah Burrows et al.},
  journal      = {Family Business Review},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251370851},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Guardians of Reputation: How Stewardship Climate Mobilizes Nonfamily Employees to Defend Against Reputational Threats

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.