Who cares about socioemotional wealth? SEW and rentier perspectives on the one percent wealthiest business households

The wealthiest family business owners are recognized as economically powerful, but there is little theoretical underpinning to explain how their behavior differs from their counterparts. To increase our understanding of family firm owners we draw on literature to introduce the concept of the rentier which we contrast with the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective of ownership. We test contrasting predictions by examining the strategic behavior of the one percent wealthiest business owning households in the United States using data from Federal Reserve Board’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finance. Our findings depict an entrepreneurial category of owners who blend aspects of both rentier and SEW modes, but suggest important shortcomings of both perspectives.