This study has two objectives.

The first is to explore how two core features

specific to family firms determine two business outcomes. These two core
features relate to the family firms prioritization of socio-emotional wealth
and family social capital in taking decisions on business matters. The
manner in which socio-emotional wealth and family social capital interact
with each other is studied, as well as how socio-emotional wealth and
family social capital bear influence on business growth and innovation. As
a second objective, the study will also explore these matters in terms of
culture. The intention is to study Pakistani family firms and immigrant
Pakistani family firms located in the UK. Hofstede (2001) suggests that
firms function based on the construction of culturally implicit models in
the minds of its members. This study aims to: (1) ascertain the roles
played by socio-emotional wealth and family social capital in family firm
growth and innovation, and (2) learn whether family firms from the same
national cultural background functioning in a different national culture
behave in differently in terms of socio-emotional wealth and family social
capital. In doing so, this work seeks to contribute to the literature on
family firms in two ways. First, it will be the first work to reconcile ideas of
socio-emotional wealth with family social capital as to core aspects that
substantively differentiate the family firm from their non-family
counterparts to understand how both may simultaneously play a part in
family firm growth and innovation. Second, by comparing domestic
versus immigrant family firms in the Pakistani context, this work offers a
first insight into whether reliance on family social capital and emphasis
placed on socio-emotional wealth differs as a family frim originates
domestically or as an immigrant firm.

The family firm has a unique social system encompassing the family and
the firm. Socio-emotional wealth and family social capital offer the
opportunity to study these unique systems in family firm theory. Through
an extensive and critical in-depth qualitative research method, the aim is
to explore these features of family businesses to better understand their
roles in shaping business outcomes. By exploring the effects of socio-
emotional wealth and family social capital on growth and innovation, the
goal is to comprehend how these two features interact with each other.
Furthermore, by conducting a comparative study, it will be easier to
understand what role national cultural backgrounds can play in family
businesses. By studying these aspects of family firms, we can understand
family firms better and further contribute to family firm research on how
these aspects interact and function.

The aspects that are unique to family firms require an approach to

research that caters to these exclusive features (Nordqvist et al. 2009).
The study proposed will contribute to the current literature and theory. It
will:

1. Explore socio-emotional wealth and family social capital effects on

family firms growth and innovation through in-depth qualitative
interviews.

2. A critical study of the prevailing literature demonstrates a lack of

research relating to the effects of socio-emotional wealth and family
social capital on each other. This study aims to discover what effects
these two aspects have on each other.

3. Currently the understanding of how family firms, with similar

national cultural backgrounds, operate in different national cultures
is missing. The proposed study will explore how this aspect may
influence socio-emotional wealth and family social capital.