The role of affect in the selection of nonfamily top management team members in family businesses

Utilizing a qualitative research design based on 53 interviews with 19 Swiss family businesses, supplemented by 14 expert interviews, this study demonstrates that different family firm-specific elements of the process of selecting top management team (TMT) members alter affect infusion in family firms. These are the informal selection context, the involvement of informal advisors, and relationship-related evaluation criteria. The study moreover shows that the context-specific attitude (openness, defensiveness, readiness to delegate) of the family business decision-maker regulates affect infusion. Lastly, the study demonstrates that sabotage in the selection process can occur in high-affect infusion scenarios. Contributions and implications for future research are discussed.