The extent to which assessments are shared across family members and generations has been questioned, suggesting that the variability in the family members’ perceptions may convey important family-level information. With this in mind, we theoretically and methodologically introduce dispersion modeling which is designed to use this variance as an important explanatory variable, presenting a framework that can guide scholars in its application. Using field data to apply the framework, we illustrate how this modeling approach helps us understand the dynamic interactions within family firms, and then we offer future research ideas that are best suited to dispersion composition modeling.