I VALORI FAMILIARI: EVIDENZE NELLA GESTIONE E NELL’ INFORMAZIONE DI BILANCIO

The aim of the thesis is to understand and study values and emotional wealth in family businesses. Through two empirical studies developed with different methodologies and different samples, the thesis has contributed to the understanding of socio-emotional values and wealth in small and large family businesses facing two different topics: the keeping of family values over time in the first empirical study and the analysis of family values with regard to the reporting of biodiversity information in the second. For the study of small family values has been adopted an historical approach which allowed us to verify whether these values represent the starting points of the entrepreneurial management from the start. To complete the analysis and then verify the presence of family values and the socio - emotional wealth in large companies, we decided to study the reporting of biodiversity information. The second study made it possible to assess the impact of family values on corporate decisions in large companies and to identify the differences in communication between family and non-family businesses, pointing out that the level of information reported can be influenced by the presence of some values in family businesses. The thesis highlighted how the company dimension affects the perception of different aspects concerning socio-emotional wealth (control, identification of family members with the company, sense of belonging of the members to the family activity etc.) without, however, changing the importance for the company. In both studies it emerged the importance assumed by family values that, in small companies, is expressed both in the choices linked to the keeping of control over the capital and through the strong identification of family members with the company. It follows that the emotional and personal importance of the company and of the family is an expression of the perpetual presence of a strong sense of belonging to the family activity since its establishment, which leads the family to consider the company not as an instrumental good, but rather as an extension of its own identity. Finally, the thesis highlighted that in the large listed companies the importance of family values (studied through the reporting of biodiversity information), is expressed in the communication of more information in comparison to unlisted companies, because those family listed companies give great importance to keep a good reputation and to preserve values for future generations.