Motivations for Entrepreneurial Philanthropy by Lebanese Family Businesses in a Multi-Crisis Context: The Role of Community Embeddedness, Resources, and Values

• In Event: Motivations for giving

Abstract

We study family business philanthropy in response to multiple crises in Lebanon (the 2019 banking
crisis, COVID-19, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion). Some firms exploit the opportunities created by being embedded in their communities, some don’t (Astner, 2022). We investigate the community embeddedness of nine Lebanese family firms using Eisenhardt’s multi-case method (Eisenhardt, 1989; Eisenhardt & Martin, 2010) to interpret their entrepreneurial philanthropic behavior.
Research on family business philanthropy is scarce (Breeze, 2009; Gautier & Pache, 2015; Steiger et
al., 2015; De Massis & Rondi, 2020; Daspit et al., 2021). Our research emphasizes that family firms
(accounting for about two-thirds of world output) play an active social entrepreneurial role in crisis relief (Loza, 2004; Taylor, 2010; Harrow & Jung, 2016; Smulowitz et al., 2020; Conroy & Deller, 2020). We collected qualitative data (via in-depth interviews) immediately after the 2020 Beirut port explosion, six months after the explosion, and again six months later.
Several streams help frame the query: research on organizational culture (Schein, 1983; Alvesson &
Berg, 1992; Zahra, 2008; Taylor 2010; Adiguna, 2015; Sánchez Marín et al., 2017; Raitis et al., 2021),on community embeddedness (Smulowitz et al., 2020; Ge et al., 2021; Lorandini & Odella, 2023;
Herrold & Abu Assi, 2023), and on entrepreneurial philanthropy (Harvey et al., 2011, 2019; Shaw et
al., 2011; Wong & Mcgovern, 2023). We build on the integrated resource-dependence and stakeholder
theories framework (Willems et al., 2022), and use a socio-emotional wealth approach (Gomez-Mejia
et al., 2007; Berron et al., 2012; Miller & Le Breton Miller, 2014; Newbert & Graig, 2017; Samara & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2018; Vandekerkhof et al., 2018) to develop two propositions: first, given the available resources, the more a family firm is socially embedded in its community, the more it is
motivated to give; and second, the relation with target stakeholders (the beneficiaries of the
philanthropy) is driven by embedded values that are specific to each firm.
Our findings reveal that a complex social connection (Sayah et al., 2023) exists between a family firm and its stakeholders’ ecosystem, bounded by its community embeddedness and resource availability. Furthermore, the firms perceive community differently. Common values across the family, business, and social levels are a crucial factor in amplifying philanthropy. In addition, the entrepreneurial trait of certain family business owners contributed to the speedy recovery of their businesses. Theoretically, our findings 1) illustrate how the integrated resource dependence and stakeholder theories framework
helps explain family firm community embeddedness because it incorporates both resource and
stakeholder elements; and 2) expand the socio-emotional wealth approach by adding a broader
stakeholder perspective (i.e., the community). Another contribution is that we show that, via their entrepreneurial philanthropic behaviors, family firms in Lebanon act as community organizations, each within their unique organizational culture.

Keywords
Family Firm; Philanthropy; Community Organizations; Crisis

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Authors

• Neamat Sidani, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Luc Hens, Department of Applied Economics Vrije Universiteit Brussels

• Marc Jegers, Vrije Universiteit Brussels