What shapes a family constitution toward a role or another ?Analysisng drivers under the Regulatory Focus Theory

In the growing family governance research debate, we still know little on why family firms decide to put family governance mechanisms in place. This research attempts to fill this gap by highlighting drivers leading to different family constitutions roles, namely control-or support oriented mechanism. Using a multiple case study analysis, we open the black box by empirically examining the family constitution as a document – via the analysis of the document - and as a process -via the analysis of interviews. We make two contributions. First, through the highlighting of two types of family constitutions roles drivers – namely motivations (why did the family put a family constitution up) and writing aspects (how did the family take part in the writing process of the constitution). Second, through their linking with the regulatory focus theory, allowing us to further anchor, develop and enrich theoretical background on family constitutions.