Utilizing a combination of stakeholder theory and social identity theory, we
explore religiosity in family firms. The concept of bounded stakeholder
salience is developed to describe situations where legitimacy is attached to
stakeholders based on their possession of characteristics valued by the
coalition of family decision-makers rather than their rightful claims to firm
resources. We discuss how bounded stakeholder salience creates non-economic
co-dependencies between family firms and their stakeholders that are
likely to endure over time. Finally, we show that the satisfaction of
non-economic goals through relationships with stakeholders with
compatible religiosities may have residual effects on firm performance.