Trust in professional managers in family businesses

Family-owned business research is a special academic field due to family-owned businesses' various behavioral dynamics. The fact that family and business systems are to be intertwined makes the dynamics of organizational relationships unique to these businesses. The trust relationships between family and out-of-family members are shaped by the expectations these parties. Family members expect from professionals to develop a strict commitment to business, while professionals tend to have a need for egalitarian approaches. The aim of the research is to determine the level of trust of family members for professional managers and to point out the gravity of perceptions regarding confidence conditions in family-owned businesses. The data set consists of 75 family members from 67 various familyowned businesses. The data is collected with questionnaires measuring the competency, commitment and trustworthiness of professional managers, and SPSS v.16.0 is employed for the data analysis. The findings suggest that family members carry a high level of confidence for professional managers, especially in terms of competency and trustworthiness. Family members also tend to have perceptions about the commitment of professional managers that cannot be considered negative. Because of professional managers are to be considered as long-term employees, this may have reinforced these perceptions. Keywords: Family-Owned Business, Trust in Professional Managers.