摘要：The stewardship theory is developed within the corporate governance discipline as an alternative to the agency theory. Stewardship theory has its roots in the socio-psychological model of human behavior which implies the pro-organizational and collectivistic behavior of the manager whereby the manager derives more satisfaction by serving the group (organization) than by satisfying his or her personal goals. Relevant researches of stewardship theory are based on the analysis of the theory in modern corporations where the owner's and managerial functions are separated; therefore in this paper we conducted pioneer research on stewardship theory in family businesses where the principal (owner) is also the manager. In addition to the theoretical conceptualization, this paper presents a qualitative empirical research that confirms the validity of the stewardship theory in small family businesses confirming its basic assumptions in the analysis of human behavior in family businesses such as emotional attachment, non-economic and altruistic behavior of family members.
关键词：Key words: stewardship theory; family business; stewardship; trust; qualitative research
