Examining Family Firm Succession From a Social Exchange Perspective

Abstract

We use a social exchange perspective to review family firm succession literature owing to its fit with the multiphase, multistakeholder nature of the process. We searched the history of 34 journals, finding 88 published or forthcoming articles that quantitatively examined succession. We consider the primary phases of the management succession process (ground rules, successor development, and transition) and the relevant stakeholder exchanges occurring during each phase, including exchanges between incumbents and successors, within family boundaries, and across family boundaries. We contribute to the family firm succession literature by identifying how a social exchange perspective can help guide future research. Strategic Organization.2. A majority of the studies identified (112 of the 191) were published in Family Business Review. 3. Lee et al. (2003) identify a third type of transition, the "seat-warmer" strategy where a nonfamily CEO assumes power temporarily until the family successor is ready to take over.

Perceived Parental Behaviors and Next-Generation Engagement in Family Firms: A Social Cognitive Perspective

“…Second, we address calls for alternative theoretical perspectives that explain succession at the individual-level of analysis (Daspit et al, 2016). Specifically, we draw on SCT to examine parental behaviors, self-efficacy, and commitment from next-generation members' perspective.…”

“…This gap reflects the skew of family business literature toward incumbents rather than next-generation members (De Massis, Sieger, Chua, & Vismara, 2016), and the emphasis of succession literature on firm level processes and outcomes rather than on individual or family level predictors (Daspit, Holt, Chrisman, & Long, 2016;Jaskiewicz & Dyer, 2017).…”

“…This leadership may be exercised through ownership, managerial, or governance roles (Zellweger, 2017), but at this early stage of theorizing, following previous succession literature (Daspit et al, 2016), we focus on managerial leadership.…”

A power perspective on knowledge transfer in internal succession of small family businesses

“…However, we acknowledge that, in practice, the succession process can be more complex and involve other stakeholders, such as other family members (Chrisman et al, 2012;Daspit et al, 2015), particularly as both the individual-personal level, and the formalorganizational dimension of power in family firms need to be managed. As a consequence of the involvement of other stakeholders, social power systems will become more complex.…”

Psychological contract and social exchange in family firms

“…Family-member employees' perceptions of justice, which drives reciprocity between them and their firm, can influence whether their firms have a succession plan. Further, repeated interactions -such as those exchanges between family-member employees -generate trust, which results in shared frames of reference for future interactions (Daspit et al, 2015) and influences the extent to which the succession plan is formalised and communicated to employees (Dumas, 1998;Gómez-Mejía et al, 2011). Given the impact of succession planning on family business performance (Wang et al, 2004), distributive justice is an important factor in family firms because of its influence on the extent to which the firm engages in succession-planning activities, which, in turn, influence the firm's performance.…”