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“Whom do I want to be the next CEO?” Desirable successor attributes in family firms

Author

Listed:
  • Rodrigo Basco

    (Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business, American University of Sharjah)

  • Andrea Calabrò

    (University of Witten/Herdecke)

Abstract

The aim of our study is to understand whether different incumbent attitudes towards desirable successor attributes have an impact on their intention to nominate a family member or a non-family member as CEO and the extent to which this intention is moderated by the number of family members working in the firm as a proxy of socioemotional wealth preservation. Our main findings suggest that an incumbent’s intention to nominate a family member as the next CEO increases when they believe family standing attributes to be important and decreases when they consider managerial competence attributes to be important. However, the latter relationship weakens as the number of family members working in the firm increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigo Basco & Andrea Calabrò, 2017. "“Whom do I want to be the next CEO?” Desirable successor attributes in family firms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 487-509, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:87:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11573-016-0828-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-016-0828-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Arndt Werner & Sabrina Schell & Ljuba Haunschild, 2021. "How does a succession influence investment decisions, credit financing and business performance in small and medium-sized family firms?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 423-446, March.
    2. Mariateresa Torchia & Marita Rautiainen & Andrea Calabrò & Tuuli Ikäheimonen & Timo Pihkala & Markku Ikävalko, 2018. "Family Ownership Goals and Socioemotional Wealth: Evidence from Finnish Family Firms," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 26(02), pages 207-224, June.
    3. Lorenzo Dal Maso & Rodrigo Basco & Thomas Bassetti & Nicola Lattanzi, 2020. "Family ownership and environmental performance: The mediation effect of human resource practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1548-1562, March.
    4. Aparicio, Gloria & Basco, Rodrigo & Iturralde, Txomin & Maseda, Amaia, 2017. "An exploratory study of firm goals in the context of family firms: An institutional logics perspective," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 157-169.
    5. Boris Rumanko & Zuzana Lušňáková & Monika Moravanská & Mária Šajbidorová, 2021. "Succession as a Risk Process in the Survival of a Family Business—Case of Slovakia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Manel Plana-Farran & Unai Arzubiaga & Angel Blanch, 2023. "Successors’ Future Training in Family Farms: The Impact of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 4216-4237, December.
    7. Muddassar Sarfraz & Syed Ghulam Meran Shah & Larisa Ivascu & Muhammad Asim Ali Qureshi, 2022. "Explicating the impact of hierarchical CEO succession on small‐medium enterprises' performance and cash holdings," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2600-2614, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    CEO succession; Family firms; Incumbent intentions; Socioemotional wealth; Successor attributes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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