Blurred Governance and the Enabling and Constraining of Individual Moral Agency in Family Firms

This study investigates how blurred governance in family firms enables and constrains individual moral agency. Adopting a critical realist lens, this thesis reports on a case study of a large, family-owned technology business. Drawing on 48 days of fieldwork, this thesis employed qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. This thesis contributes to family business ethics by extending a spectrum of moral agency as individuals addressed their moral concerns. It also advances critical realist organisational research by exploring the generative mechanisms that affect individual moral agency and the conditions under which they may lead to experiences of enablement and constraint.