Anointed or appointed? Father–daughter succession within the family business

Abstract

With the focus on events and outcomes shaping most of the existing family business research on intra-family succession, the subtleties of the incumbent–successor relationship and the dynamic nature of succession as a process of becoming is somewhat neglected. In particular, we have limited understanding of how successor identities are constructed as legitimate between incumbent and successor during father–daughter succession. This article addresses this gap in understanding by exploring how the daughter successor engages in identity work with the father incumbent during the process of succession and the role of father–daughter gendered relations in shaping her successor identity. Using a two-stage research design strategy, we draw upon empirical evidence derived from 14 individual and joint semi-structured interviews to present a narrative analysis of five father–daughter dyads. In so doing, we unveil how the daughter’s successor identity was co-constructed as legitimate and how father–daughter gendered relations influenced this process. Although daughters rely on certain father–daughter relations (preparation, endorsement and osmotic credibility) for legitimacy, they also need to develop independently of their father to heighten their own visibility and establish credibility.

Mapping women's involvement in family firms: A review based on bibliographic coupling analysis

“…As McAdam et al. (2020) assert, establishing legitimacy can be particularly challenging for daughter successors as they construct their role with male stereotypes. The social exchange perspective might help explain what factors determine incumbent–successor interactions, and family–successor relations (Daspit et al., 2016).…”

Identity in Family Firms: Toward an Integrative Understanding

“…Studies in this area consider gender aspects including women entrepreneurs within family firms (Fernandes & Mota-Ribeiro, 2017), daughters (Hytti et al, 2017; Xian et al, 2021), and women successors (Mussolino et al, 2019), exploring the role of gender in the construction of their entrepreneurial and successors’ identities. This often requires decisions on conforming to or resisting gender discrimination (Fernandes & Mota-Ribeiro, 2017) and on their positioning within the network of interactions with fathers/predecessors and other employees (McAdam et al, 2021; Mussolino et al, 2019), decisions that Byrne et al (2019, p. 3) define as “gender gymnastics” that impact the legitimacy of CEO successors (Byrne et al, 2019) and even the career choices of young people (Feldmann et al, 2022).…”

Women entrepreneurship in family business: dominant topics and future research trends

“…(for example, father-daughter or mother-daughter) (McAdam et al, 2021;Mussolino et al, 2019) can be examined longitudinally. In these studies, the effects of formal and informal institutions specific to different contexts (North, 1990;Peng et al, 2009) can be longitudinally questioned.…”

“…Therefore, future research can analyze the history of leadership development longitudinally with historical case studies in family businesses with female leaders. In addition, how this identity is constructed in the successor-predecessor relationship (for example, father-daughter or mother-daughter) (McAdam et al. , 2021; Mussolino et al.…”