Application of Grey systems theory in the analysis of data obtained from family businesses

Abstract

PURPOSE: The article presents a methodology whose aim was: first, to present the problem of the influence of conflicts upon family and business spheres in family businesses and to conduct a statistical analysis on a large sample, second: to check whether similar results can be obtained making use of small samples, randomly chosen from a large sample and analyzed using Grey Systems Theory tools.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The obtained data was used for correlation analyses and analyses that follow the procedure of Grey Incidence Analysis. The research outcome corroborated the convergence of results for both analytical approaches, which, according to the authors, allows the presented research methodology to be used with small samples of family businesses.

FINDINGS: The obtained research results confirm the hypothesis which says that the results of conclusions drawn from a small amount of data using the GST methods are in keeping with the results of correlational research for a large amount of data defining the same phenomenon.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results of the research indicate the usefulness of grey incidence analysis in empirical research on family business issues.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The research presented in the article is a positive verification of grey analytical models which can be extremely useful for empirical analyses conducted on small research samples.