ABSTRACT
Nepotism is a practice of selection by granting privileges to a person based on family or kinship ties without considering qualification or merit. It is a centuries-old approach that goes back to the origins of the human family and continues to be highly utilized in modern times. Nepotism has flourished throughout the world for generations and is still popular across nations today, as seen in the Kennedy, Bush and Trump families of the political arena, the Walton, Forbes and Hilfiger families of the business arena. Although it is widely used in political and business organizations, nepotism is one of the understudied and mostly misunderstood human resource practices. This chapter contributes to the limited research on nepotism by developing a model of nepotism that integrates cross-disciplinary research findings from areas such as business, economics, sociology and psychology. Development of an integrative model of nepotism will help to clarify the antecedents and consequences of utilizing such a selection practice and will also allow organizations to make informed decisions as to whether to utilize the practice or not.
