Commentary: "Are We Family and Are We Treated As Family? Nonfamily Employees' Perceptions of Justice in the Family Firm": It All Depends on Perceptions of Family, Fairness, Equity, And Justice‪.‬

Introduction "Are we family and are we treated as family ..." has addressed an understudied yet important aspect of family-owned and managed firms: the management of the nonfamily human resources. It addresses the perceptions of fairness, equity, and justice within family firms and has proposed distinctly different outcomes when applied to nonfamily individuals working in a family-owned and managed firm. As noted by Chrisman, Chua, and Litz (2003) and Chua, Chrisman, and Sharma (2003), attracting qualified nonfamily employees and fostering value-creating behaviors in this group is critical (but that is true for all firms). What the authors have not noted is that issues of fairness, equity, and justice go to the heart of family conflict over succession and inheritance, and ultimately to the very survival of the firm (Chua et al., 2003). Thus, injustice, unfairness, and inequalities can jeopardize the family firm as an employment opportunity for both family and nonfamily.