IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v167y2023ics0148296323005386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is exposure to the family firm always good for the next CEO? How successor pre-succession firm experience affects post-succession performance in family firms

Author

Listed:
  • Istipliler, Baris
  • Ahrens, Jan-Philipp
  • Bort, Suleika
  • Isaak, Andrew

Abstract

The benefits of pre-succession family firm experience have frequently been emphasized. However, empirical research on the impact of such experience on firm performance is dichotomy-driven and offers contradictory results. Further, there are also unresolved theoretical fault-lines. While psychology-inspired managerial decision-making literature highlights negative aspects of such experience, stewardship-inspired arguments highlight positive effects. In this study, we integrated arguments from both perspectives to investigate how pre-succession firm experience affects firm performance. Based on a sample of 405 German firms, our regression analyses show that although the main performance impact of pre-succession family firm experience is negative, this effect has important boundary conditions. In particular, our results show that this relationship takes an inverse u-shaped form for non-family successors. Further, our study reveals that the main negative relationship is stronger when the successors do not have academic education or if the innovation impetus of the firm and industry is high.

Suggested Citation

  • Istipliler, Baris & Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Bort, Suleika & Isaak, Andrew, 2023. "Is exposure to the family firm always good for the next CEO? How successor pre-succession firm experience affects post-succession performance in family firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005386
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114179
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323005386
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114179?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Danny Miller, 1991. "Stale in the Saddle: CEO Tenure and the Match Between Organization and Environment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(1), pages 34-52, January.
    2. Laurie P. Milton, 2008. "Unleashing the Relationship Power of Family Firms: Identity Confirmation as a Catalyst for Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(6), pages 1063-1081, November.
    3. Charles R. Schwenk, 1988. "The Cognitive Perspective On Strategic Decision Making," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 41-55, January.
    4. Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum, 2010. "With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U‐Shaped Relationship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(1), pages 109-118, February.
    5. Andrew D. Brown & Ken Starkey, 1994. "The Effect Of Organizational Culture On Communication And Information," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 807-828, November.
    6. Luis R. Gomez–Mejia & Joanna Tochman Campbell & Geoffrey Martin & Robert E. Hoskisson & Marianna Makri & David G. Sirmon, 2014. "Socioemotional Wealth as a Mixed Gamble: Revisiting Family Firm R&D Investments with the Behavioral Agency Model," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(6), pages 1351-1374, November.
    7. Jean‐Luc Arregle & Michael A. Hitt & David G. Sirmon & Philippe Very, 2007. "The Development of Organizational Social Capital: Attributes of Family Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 73-95, January.
    8. Richard F. J. Haans & Constant Pieters & Zi-Lin He, 2016. "Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1177-1195, July.
    9. repec:bla:jindec:v:46:y:1998:i:4:p:453-88 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jan-Philipp Ahrens & Andrea Calabrò & Jolien Huybrechts & Michael Woywode, 2019. "The Enigma of the Family Successor–Firm Performance Relationship: A Methodological Reflection and Reconciliation Attempt," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 437-474, May.
    11. Bersch, Johannes & Gottschalk, Sandra & Müller, Bettina & Niefert, Michaela, 2014. "The Mannheim Enterprise Panel (MUP) and firm statistics for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-104, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Ayse Karaevli & Edward J. Zajac, 2013. "When Do Outsider CEOs Generate Strategic Change? The Enabling Role of Corporate Stability," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7), pages 1267-1294, November.
    13. Gerard P. Hodgkinson, 1997. "Cognitive Inertia in a Turbulent Market: the Case of UK Residential Estate Agents," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 921-945, November.
    14. Richard Z. Gooding & Angelo J. Kinicki, 1995. "Interpreting Event Causes: The Complementary Role Of Categorization And Attribution Processes," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 1-22, January.
    15. Jaskiewicz, Peter & Combs, James G. & Rau, Sabine B., 2015. "Entrepreneurial legacy: Toward a theory of how some family firms nurture transgenerational entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 29-49.
    16. Alessandro Minichilli & Mattias Nordqvist & Guido Corbetta & Mario Daniele Amore, 2014. "CEO Succession Mechanisms, Organizational Context, and Performance: A Socio-Emotional Wealth Perspective on Family-Controlled Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(7), pages 1153-1179, November.
    17. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    18. Dietmar Harhoff & Konrad Stahl & Michaerl Woywode, 1998. "Legal Form, Growth and Exit of West German Firms—Empirical Results for Manufacturing, Construction, Trade and Service Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 453-488, December.
    19. Josip Kotlar & Alfredo De Massis, 2013. "Goal Setting in Family Firms: Goal Diversity, Social Interactions, and Collective Commitment to Family–Centered Goals," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(6), pages 1263-1288, November.
    20. Burmeister, Katrin & Schade, Christian, 2007. "Are entrepreneurs' decisions more biased? An experimental investigation of the susceptibility to status quo bias," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 340-362, May.
    21. Danny Miller & Isabelle Le Breton-Miller & Richard H. Lester, 2013. "Family Firm Governance, Strategic Conformity, and Performance: Institutional vs. Strategic Perspectives," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 189-209, February.
    22. Shepherd, Dean A. & Zacharakis, Andrew & Baron, Robert A., 2003. "VCs' decision processes: Evidence suggesting more experience may not always be better," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 381-401, May.
    23. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1301-1327 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Jean-François Hennart & Antonio Majocchi & Emanuele Forlani, 2019. "The myth of the stay-at-home family firm: How family-managed SMEs can overcome their internationalization limitations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(5), pages 758-782, July.
    25. Mark P. Sharfman & James W. Dean Jr, 1997. "Flexibility in Strategic Decision Making: Informational and Ideological Perspectives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 191-217, March.
    26. Dimitrios Georgakakis & Winfried Ruigrok, 2017. "CEO Succession Origin and Firm Performance: A Multilevel Study," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 58-87, January.
    27. Wei Shen & Albert A. Cannella,, 2003. "Will succession planning increase shareholder wealth? evidence from investor reactions to relay CEO successions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 191-198, February.
    28. Miller, Danny & Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Lester, Richard H. & Cannella Jr., Albert A., 2007. "Are family firms really superior performers?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 829-858, December.
    29. Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Landmann, Andreas & Woywode, Michael, 2015. "Gender preferences in the CEO successions of family firms: Family characteristics and human capital of the successor," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 86-103.
    30. Jane E. Dutton, 1993. "Interpretations On Automatic: A Different View Of Strategic Issue Diagnosis," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 339-357, May.
    31. Gary S. Hansen & Birger Wernerfelt, 1989. "Determinants of firm performance: The relative importance of economic and organizational factors," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(5), pages 399-411, September.
    32. Josip Kotlar & Philipp Sieger, 2019. "Bounded Rationality and Bounded Reliability: A Study of Nonfamily Managers’ Entrepreneurial Behavior in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(2), pages 251-273, March.
    33. Loughran, Tim & Ritter, Jay R, 1997. "The Operating Performance of Firms Conducting Seasoned Equity Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(5), pages 1823-1850, December.
    34. Usha C. V. Haley & Stephen A. Stumpf, 1989. "Cognitive Trails In Strategic Decision‐Making: Linking Theories Of Personalities And Cognitions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 477-497, September.
    35. Timothy J. Quigley & Donald C. Hambrick, 2012. "When the former ceo stays on as board chair: effects on successor discretion, strategic change, and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 834-859, July.
    36. Haveman, Heather A. & Khaire, Mukti V., 2004. "Survival beyond succession? The contingent impact of founder succession on organizational failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 437-463, May.
    37. David Norburn & Sue Birley, 1988. "The top management team and corporate performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 225-237, May.
    38. Jun Liu & Hui Wang & Chun Hui & Cynthia Lee, 2012. "Psychological Ownership: How Having Control Matters," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 869-895, July.
    39. Nanette Fondas & Margarethe Wiersema, 1997. "Changing of the Guard: the Influence of CEO Socialization on Strategic Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 561-584, July.
    40. James G. March, 1978. "Bounded Rationality, Ambiguity, and the Engineering of Choice," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 587-608, Autumn.
    41. Huson, Mark R. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Parrino, Robert, 2004. "Managerial succession and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 237-275, November.
    42. Cucculelli, Marco & Micucci, Giacinto, 2008. "Family succession and firm performance: Evidence from Italian family firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 17-31, February.
    43. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    44. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    45. Qi Zhu & Songcui Hu & Wei Shen, 2020. "Why do some insider CEOs make more strategic changes than others? The impact of prior board experience on new CEO insiderness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1933-1951, October.
    46. T.K. Das & Bing‐Sheng Teng, 1999. "Cognitive Biases and Strategic Decision Processes: An Integrative Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 757-778, November.
    47. Moses Acquaah, 2012. "Social networking relationships, firm‐specific managerial experience and firm performance in a transition economy: A comparative analysis of family owned and nonfamily firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(10), pages 1215-1228, October.
    48. Hubert Ooghe & Elisabeth Laere & Tine Langhe, 2006. "Are Acquisitions Worthwhile? An Empirical Study of the Post-Acquisition Performance of Privately Held Belgian Companies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 223-243, October.
    49. Margarita Tsoutsoura, 2015. "The Effect of Succession Taxes on Family Firm Investment: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 649-688, April.
    50. James H. Barnes, 1984. "Cognitive biases and their impact on strategic planning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 129-137, April.
    51. Ronald C. Anderson & David M. Reeb, 2003. "Founding‐Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from the S&P 500," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 1301-1328, June.
    52. Annie Liang & Xiaosheng Mu, 2020. "Complementary Information and Learning Traps," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 389-448.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Uhlaner, Lorraine & Woywode, Michael & Zybura, Jan, 2018. "“Shadow emperor” or “loyal paladin”? – The Janus face of previous owner involvement in family firm successions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 73-90.
    2. Uchida, Hirofumi & Yamada, Kazuo & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2023. "Management innovations in family firms after CEO successions: Evidence from Japanese SMEs," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Masatoshi Kato & Yuji Honjo, 2020. "CEO Succession and New-Firm Performance: Does Successor Origin Matter?," Discussion Paper Series 213, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University.
    4. Patrizia Fanasch & Bernd Frick, 2021. "Filling Big Shoes: CEO and COO Succession Planning in Family Businesses," Working Papers Dissertations 69, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    5. Mario Daniele Amore & Morten Bennedsen & Isabelle Le Breton‐Miller & Danny Miller, 2021. "Back to the future: The effect of returning family successions on firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(8), pages 1432-1458, August.
    6. Jing Zhao & Michael Carney & Shubo Zhang & Limin Zhu, 2020. "How does an intra-family succession effect strategic change and performance in China’s family firms?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 363-389, June.
    7. Jan-Philipp Ahrens & Andrea Calabrò & Jolien Huybrechts & Michael Woywode, 2019. "The Enigma of the Family Successor–Firm Performance Relationship: A Methodological Reflection and Reconciliation Attempt," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 437-474, May.
    8. Xueru Yang & Jun Li & Laura J. Stanley & Franz W. Kellermanns & Xinchun Li, 2020. "How family firm characteristics affect internationalization of Chinese family SMEs," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 417-448, June.
    9. Xu, Kai & Hitt, Michael A. & Dai, Li, 2020. "International diversification of family-dominant firms: Integrating socioemotional wealth and behavioral theory of the firm," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    10. Marco Cucculelli, 2018. "Firm age and the probability of product innovation. Do CEO tenure and product tenure matter?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 153-179, January.
    11. Criaco, Giuseppe & van Oosterhout, J. (Hans) & Nordqvist, Mattias, 2021. "Is blood always thicker than water? Family firm parents, kinship ties, and the survival of spawns," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    12. Richard Gentry & Clay Dibrell & Jaemin Kim, 2016. "Long–Term Orientation in Publicly Traded Family Businesses: Evidence of a Dominant Logic," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(4), pages 733-757, July.
    13. Pittino, Daniel & Chirico, Francesco & Baù, Massimo & Villasana, Marcia & Naranjo-Priego, Elvira E. & Barron, Elda, 2020. "Starting a family business as a career option: The role of the family household in Mexico," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2).
    14. Cho, Jaeyoung & Miller, Danny & Lee, Jangwoo, 2018. "Too much of a good thing: Family involvement and the survival of listed Korean firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 223-237.
    15. Cambrea, Domenico Rocco & Ponomareva, Yuliya & Pittino, Daniel & Minichilli, Alessandro, 2022. "Strings attached: Socioemotional wealth mixed gambles in the cash management choices of family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3).
    16. Engel, Pascal J. & Hack, Andreas & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2015. "Setting the right mix—Analyzing outside directors’ pay mix in public family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 130-140.
    17. Jean-Luc Arregle & Francesco Chirico & Liena Kano & Sumit K. Kundu & Antonio Majocchi & William S. Schulze, 2021. "Family firm internationalization: Past research and an agenda for the future," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(6), pages 1159-1198, August.
    18. Rau, Sabine B. & Werner, Arndt & Schell, Sabrina, 2019. "Psychological ownership as a driving factor of innovation in older family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4).
    19. Mike W. Peng & Wei Sun & Cristina Vlas & Alessandro Minichilli & Guido Corbetta, 2018. "An Institution-Based View of Large Family Firms: A Recap and Overview," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(2), pages 187-205, March.
    20. Kammerlander, Nadine & Sieger, Philipp & Voordeckers, Wim & Zellweger, Thomas, 2015. "Value creation in family firms: A model of fit," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 63-72.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.