After the Ground Stopped Shaking: Socioemotional Wealth and Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery of Small Family Businesses

This study is the first to measure the interaction of socioemotional wealth (SEW) and social capital, consisting of community and institution, and their impact in post-disaster recovery of small family businesses. Hierarchical multiple regression is used based on a sample of 79 small family businesses in Indonesia. Our findings suggest that family firms in post-disaster situation are able to pursue both SEW goals and economic gains, thus breaking the trade-off between SEW vs. economic benefits. More specifically, we found that SEW—as a strategic decision making tool—shows its prominence on the interaction between SEW-community and SEW-institution. This implies that small family businesses need to find synergy between socioemotional endowments and social capital to help them to bounce back and recover after a disaster.