看不見的資本：經營者之妻對家族核心價值觀發展的影響

Invisible Capital: How Founders’ Wives Influence the Core Values Development in Business Families

女性經常是家族企業研究中被忽略的價值創造角色，為了彌補此研究缺口，本研究以創辦「國際牌」電器的洪建全家族兩代經營者之妻為研究對象，分析她們的人力資本與其在家族中被賦予的正式與非正式角色，如何影響家族價值觀的發展。本研究發現，家族的核心價值理念起源自第一代創業家夫婦共有的價值觀，但兩代經營者之妻在適切的角色分工下，扮演倡導、示範、傳承與實踐價值精神的角色，推動家族價值觀融入組織文化的一部分。在理論上，本研究解釋經營者之妻對家族價值觀發展的影響，點出賦予責任和信任能加速外來的家族新成員建立較高的家族情感連結，並透過符合其專長、志趣的職務安排使妻子的角色發揮對家族與事業的影響。

The role of women for value creation has been neglected in existing studies on family business. To fill this gap, this study adopts a qualitative research method to analyze the role of two generations of business leaders’ wives’ human capital as well as their role in business families and explore their influence on the development of the core values in the business family. The study focuses on the case of the Hong family, which was led by the founder of National Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. The findings highlight the important role of wives. Family core values originate from the shared values and beliefs of the founder and his spouse. However, in order to turn them into enduring family values and incorporate them into the organizational culture, the critical roles of wives should be considered. The wives, who are imperative family members, play a critical role in advocating, demonstrating, inheriting, and practicing these values with an appropriate division of roles. In theory, this study extends the interpretation of the relationship between human capital and family values creation and explains the influence of wives on core values development in business families. In practice, the study suggests that the new family members should be entrusted with responsibilities and given trust to ensure that they can develop better emotional ties with their new families. Moreover, assigning roles according to their capabilities and interests would enable wives to exert their influence on both business and family spheres.