In pursuit of socioemotional wealth: The affordances of social media in family firms

Social media which is characterized by easily accessible information technology applications has become ubiquitous in a range of organizations. It simultaneously presents both opportunities and challenges for organizations. Social media has influenced many aspects of organizing and has generated new ways of connecting with employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Despite the pervasiveness of social media, there is limited understanding on the impact of social media on family firms. In this chapter, we attempt to remedy the absence of theory on the organizational effects of social media use in a family business context. We utilize an affordance lens to explain how social media can offer four types of affordances to family firms that pursue socioemotional objectives – visibility, persistence, editability, and association. Overall, this chapter yields several theoretical contributions to the family business literature and to our understanding of social media affordances in family firms.