PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of bridging social capital on the financial and non-financial performance of family businesses and explores the mediation role of social skills in the context of family succession.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative study, through questionnaires, was conducted among 105 Tunisian family firms that have experienced a family succession for at least one year. The PLS-SEM analysis method was used to test the research hypothesis.FindingsResults show that an increase in external social capital is positively associated with financial performance and family-centred non-economic goals, whereas social skills mediate this positive relationship.Originality/valueThe proposed model aims to test the direct effect of bridging social capital on family firms' performance and exploring the mediation role of the successor's social skills.

This article aims to understand how emerging conflicts evolve and generate negative emotions during family firms’ succession process. Relying on previous research on emotional dissonance and conflict, we conduct a single longitudinal case study by interviewing the successor, the predecessor, and other family members in a family firm in the Tunisian context. The results show that emotional dissonance plays a critical role in conflict escalation between successors and predecessors. Family systems and cultural factors explain challenges in managing emotions; however, emotions associated with family events can facilitate the evolution of the succession process by resolving conflict. This study thus reveals how and why emotions and conflicts arise during the succession process.

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The succession process can be a traumatic event in the life cycle of a family firm and is usually characterised by an increased interest towards the firm of the successor accompanied by a progressive disengagement of the predecessor. Drawing on five longitudinal case studies of Tunisian family firms examined from 2016 to 2019, we investigated the sequential and dynamic nature of this process, focusing on the conflicts among family members involved in the process. The main findings suggest that professional and family-related conflicts can lead to excessive tensions between the involved parties, which can result in failure of the succession process. Moreover, specific contingency factors, such as tragic events, can positively or negatively trigger deviation from the succession process path.