Stewardship as process: A paradox perspective

Eur Manag J. 2021 Apr;39(2):247-259. doi: 10.1016/j.emj.2020.09.006. Epub 2020 Sep 11.

Abstract

Long-term stewardship is usually represented as a stable structural condition and portrayed as a source of competitive advantage to firms (including family businesses) that use it as a mode of governance. Less is known about how organizations engage with stewardship as a process. We embrace a process approach to report a case study about the unfolding of stewardship in a multi-business family group. We conclude that stewardship is a process marked by critical tensions and paradoxes; by exploring the nature of these we uncover further dimensions and responses to the paradoxes of stewardship.

Keywords: Family business; Paradoxes; Process; Stewardship.