Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-27-2023

Publication Title

Journal of Public Affairs

Volume

23

Issue

2

Pages

1-11

Publisher Name

Wiley

Abstract

In the past two decades, the Journal of Public Affairs has solidified corporate public affairs as a legitimate leadership skillset vital to driving future business growth. Yet, more work at a persistently overlooked gap in the Journal, the intersection of public affairs and family businesses, might shed new light on thriving, trusted, and sustainable business practices. This paper examines the unique contributions of family businesses as trusted influencers. As one of the most prominent forms of business, worldwide, family businesses persistently enjoy unusually high levels of public trust while collectively employing millions of wage earners yet their contributions to corporate external affairs research ostensibly have been largely overlooked. These “silent” community and social influencers offer a potentially new perspective on effective public outreach given their persistent and unique trust advantage. Family business' trust-based capabilities can potentially bring new insights to understanding effective stakeholder engagement, credible communications, and issues management—the sweet spot of corporate public affairs functions. Future research opportunities based on relational- and locational- advantages of trusted family businesses are identified.

Comments

Author Posting © The Author(s), 2023. This article is posted here by permission of Wiley for personal use. This article was published open access in Journal of Public Affairs, VOL.23, ISS.2, ( February 27, 2023), https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2853

Download

Included in

Business Commons

Share

COinS