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The Bad Seed’s Poisonous Harvest: How Offspring Sow and Reap Deviant and Dysfunctional Behavior in the Family Business

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Understanding Family Businesses

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 15))

Abstract

It was another night without sleep. What Tony overheard his employees discussing earlier in the day was chilling. They were debating whether it was better when his son, Bobby, didn’t report to work or when he actually came to work at the family’s restaurant. Those arguing that work was better when Bobby didn’t show up cited the times Bobby came to work drunk, stole money, or harassed the female staff. Employees arguing that Bobby needed to report to work complained that his tardiness and unpredictable absences caused their own workloads to increase. One employee lamented about the time she missed her best friend’s birthday party because Bobby did not show up to relieve her. Although Tony knew that his son caused problems for the family, he did not realize that Bobby was also infringing on the employees of the family firm. Nor did he realize that the employees knew the extent of Bobby’s dysfunctional behavior. Tony had thought he had hidden these problems from the rest of the staff. He was obviously wrong. Tony barely got any sleep that night as he tossed and turned thinking about his son’s role in the family business.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, Northeastern University, 219 Hayden Hall, Boston, MA, 02115-5000, USA

    Kimberly A. Eddleston

  2. Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Department 3275, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Roland E. Kidwell

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  1. Kimberly A. Eddleston
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Correspondence to Kimberly A. Eddleston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. TED ROGERS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, TORONTO, M5B 2K3, Ontario, Canada

    ALAN CARSRUD

  2. Dept. Business Administration, Swedish University Abo, Henriksgatan 7, Turku, 20500, Finland

    Malin Brännback

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Eddleston, K.A., Kidwell, R.E. (2012). The Bad Seed’s Poisonous Harvest: How Offspring Sow and Reap Deviant and Dysfunctional Behavior in the Family Business. In: CARSRUD, A., Brännback, M. (eds) Understanding Family Businesses. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 15. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0911-3_7

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