Entrepreneurial Opportunity Exploitation and the Family: Relationship Based Factors That Affect the Adult Child’s Decision to Join With Parents in a New Venture

Prior researchers have identified several predictors of an adult child's decision to join with parents in an existing family business. However, these studies have not investigated this decision with respect to a new venture. This study assesses the significance that involvement of a particular parent and the relative hierarchical roles of the child and the parents have on the likelihood that the adult child will join the new venture. This assessment compared the goodness-of-fit of models reflecting these factors using confirmatory factor analysis. The study supports the hypothesis that the adult child will be more likely to join a new venture in an exchange relationship as a co-owner with parents than as a subordinate to them in a role that reflects a continuation of an earlier attachment relationship. This finding provides important insights into factors that family members and their advisors should consider in planning for a new venture involving adult children and their parents.