Family leadership succession and firm performance: The moderating effect of tacit idiosyncratic firm knowledge

The expression “clogs to clogs in three generations” illustrates the widely held perception that family business performance wanes with each generation of intrafamily leadership succession. Hence, family businesses would benefit from a better understanding of practices that help prepare potential he...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inKnowledge and process management Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 32 - 40
Main Authors Williams, Ralph I., Mullane, John
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.01.2019
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:The expression “clogs to clogs in three generations” illustrates the widely held perception that family business performance wanes with each generation of intrafamily leadership succession. Hence, family businesses would benefit from a better understanding of practices that help prepare potential heirs for leadership succession and, thus, improve postsuccession firm performance. Specifically, this paper proposes that the transfer of tacit idiosyncratic firm knowledge moderates the relationship between family leadership succession and firm performance. The resource‐based view of the firm and transaction cost economics is utilized to theoretically explain the nature of this relationship. Processes that potentially enhance the transfer of tacit idiosyncratic firm knowledge, particularly in family firms, are presented from extant literature.
ISSN:1092-4604
1099-1441
DOI:10.1002/kpm.1594