Relationships among family influence, top management team issues, and firm performance an empirical study of the automotive supplier industry in Turkey using structural equation modeling

This dissertation examines the relationships among family influence, behavioral integration of the TMT, professionalization and succession planning of the TMT, market dynamism and firm performance. Thus, this study also examines variation in family and non-family executives? perceptions of research variables.The hypotheses were tested using surveyed data collected from 280 family executives and 245 non-family executives in 164 automotive supplier family firms located in nine cities in Turkey. The Structural Equation Model technique was used to test the empirical model. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural path analyses were conducted to test the relationships between construct variables through AMOS 7.0. Basic and complex descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA analyses were employed through SPSS 16.0 to analyze the data.The results of the study indicated a positive relationship among culture (values & loyalty, involvement & commitment) ? based family influence, TMTBI and firm performance. A positive impact of collaborative behavior based TMTBI on TMTSP by means of strategic goals and core competencies were found. Another finding was the positive impact of corporate values-based TMT succession planning on TMT professionalization. In addition, market dynamism was found to play no role on family influence. Further, there was a significant perceptual difference between family and non-family executives about the degree of professionalization. Finally, there was a significant difference in the hypothesized relationships among overall, family, and non-family executives.This dissertation has many implications for future studies. Perceptual variations of market dynamism among pure family, pure non-family, and mixed management in family firms and relations to firm performance are recommended for future study. In addition, a study of impacts of different management structures on TMTBI, TMTSP, and TMT professionalization in family firms operating in the automotive supplier industry should enhance our understanding of them. Further, a study of environmental effects on family influence in different industries is also recommended. Moreover, surveys conducted in other countries and sectors can enhance the validity of this study?s findings.This research makes contributions to theory and practice. First, it hopes to increase the level of knowledge in the family business research field because it draws from three research fields: family business continuity, upper echelon theory, and succession planning. Second, it provides a framework within which owners can determine in which areas improvement is needed in their firms in terms of TMT behavioral integration, succession planning and professionalization.Keywords ? Family influence, top management team, behavioral integration, succession planning, professionalization, market dynamism and firm performance.