Family business, owner-managers, ethnicity and conflict in Malaysia

The conflicts encountered by the owner-managers in family-owned firms in Malaysia are explored in this chapter. Drawing upon the theoretical lens from agency, stewardship, resource-based and socioemotional wealth theories the lived experiences of conflicts on the basis of type, nature and extent by the owner-managers of family-owned firms are investigated deeply through in-depth interviews. Macro and micro thematic categories of relative importance are elicited by employing qualitative data analysis. Results obtained indicate that owner-managers in family-owned firms experience task, process, internal and/or external-oriented conflicts alongside affective, conative and/or cognitive nature of conflicts to a lesser or greater extent on the basis of gender and ethnicity leading conflict triads. The study provides important implications for theory, practice and family business environment.