Legacy Creation in Modern Business Families: Patchwork and Multi-Parent Constellations

Recent calls emphasize studying new family constellations in family business research. Societal changes, including blended and LGBTQ+ families, mean successors are increasingly raised across multiple households with implications for family cohesion and stability. Our single-case study examines a Dutch multi-parent LGBTQ+ business family that was intentionally formed by four parents raising two children across two households. The process involved extensive planning, doing family, and family governance tools to manage complexity and establish a legacy. Using a family embeddedness perspective, we propose a framework linking family practices in multi-parent families to venture creation, legacy creation and transgenerational entrepreneurship, and discuss implications for understanding modern business families.