Socioemotional wealth (SEW) across borders: Integrating national context into SEW research

This study addresses the challenges associated with integrating the national context into socioemotional wealth (SEW) research and highlights the consequences of overlooking contextual variations. We emphasize two critical issues: inadequate testing of SEW assumptions and threats to the construct validity of SEW measurement. We recommend that cultural and institutional aspects of the national context should be incorporated to understand how family owners prioritize SEW dimensions, and how their willingness trades off current SEW wealth for prospective financial gains. We also conduct an exploratory study measuring the FIBER scale in Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Vietnam. We survey 1464 family owners to enhance SEW construct validity by probing the cross-country measurement invariance of the FIBER scale. Furthermore, we conduct comparative research to investigate how cultural and institutional aspects shape the FIBER dimensions across national contexts. • Socioemotional Wealth FIBER scale is validated in five countries. • FIBER scale’s measurement invariance is assessed for family firms. • Scale items are valid and understood similarly across countries. • Scale items are also compared meaningfully.