Understanding place attachment in family firms: a multiple case study from rural Italy

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how place attachment – the emotional bond between individuals or groups and a specific territory – originates and develops with family firms. Drawing on a context-sensitive approach, it aims to shed light on the mechanisms through which such bonds form and evolve in family businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study is based on primary data collected from six case studies in Italy’s Chianti Classico wine cluster. Through field visits, 18 interviews and document and website analysis, this study explores how various components of the family business – namely, the individual, the family and the business – engage within the home territory, shaping place connections.

Findings

This study shows that place attachment emerges as a co-constructed process shaped by family, individual and firm-level interactions. Specific factors, like family members’ personal experiences, childhood memories and social bonds with the local community, interact and reinforce each other in developing a deep, inherent connection to the place. The business is pivotal in nurturing and transmitting place attachment across generations, strengthening emotional and practical ties to the home territory through continuity and tradition.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the potential of family firms as key actors in place-based development strategies. Their deep-rooted ties to place can be leveraged for branding, succession, sustainability efforts and local revitalisation policies.

Originality/value

This study offers a novel theoretical contribution by positioning place attachment as a crucial, affective layer beneath the economic and relational dimensions of a firm’s local embeddedness. It introduces a multi-level perspective that accounts for the roles of individuals, families and businesses in fostering and sustaining territorial bonds.