IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v39y2022i2d10.1007_s10490-020-09748-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carry the past into the future: the effects of CEO temporal focus on succession planning in family firms

Author

Listed:
  • Feifei Lu

    (Shanghai University
    University of Technology Sydney)

  • Ho Kwong Kwan

    (China Europe International Business School (CEIBS))

  • Bin Ma

    (IE University)

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between CEO temporal focus and family business succession planning is examined and the moderating effects of family interactions and environmental uncertainty are assessed. Based on data from 198 CEOs of family businesses and additional data from 15 semi-structured interviews in China, we find that CEO temporal focus (i.e., past, present, or future focus) is positively associated with succession planning. In addition, family interactions strengthen the relationship between CEO past focus and succession planning and weaken the relationship between CEO future focus and succession planning. Moreover, in uncertain environments, past-focused CEOs are more likely to plan for succession than present-focused CEOs. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Feifei Lu & Ho Kwong Kwan & Bin Ma, 2022. "Carry the past into the future: the effects of CEO temporal focus on succession planning in family firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 763-804, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:39:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10490-020-09748-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-020-09748-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-020-09748-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-020-09748-4?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. Ikujiro Nonaka & Ryoko Toyama, 2007. "Strategic management as distributed practical wisdom (phronesis)," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 371-394, June.
    2. David L. Deephouse & Peter Jaskiewicz, 2013. "Do Family Firms Have Better Reputations Than Non-Family Firms? An Integration of Socioemotional Wealth and Social Identity Theories," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 337-360, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Michael Gilding & Sheree Gregory & Barbara Cosson, 2015. "Motives and Outcomes in Family Business Succession Planning," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(2), pages 299-312, March.
    5. Marshall, James P. & Sorenson, Ritch & Brigham, Keith & Wieling, Elizabeth & Reifman, Alan & Wampler, Richard S., 2006. "The paradox for the family firm CEO: Owner age relationship to succession-related processes and plans," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 348-368, May.
    6. David G. Sirmon & Michael A. Hitt, 2003. "Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 339-358, October.
    7. Franz W. Kellermanns & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2004. "Feuding Families: When Conflict Does a Family Firm Good," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(3), pages 209-228, May.
    8. T. K. Das, 1987. "Strategic planning and individual temporal orientation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 203-209, March.
    9. repec:bla:econom:v:48:y:1981:i:189:p:1-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Heli Wang & Shan Zhao & Guoli Chen, 2017. "Firm-specific knowledge assets and employment arrangements: Evidence from CEO compensation design and CEO dismissal," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1875-1894, September.
    11. Dyck, Bruno & Mauws, Michael & Starke, Frederick A. & Mischke, Gary A., 2002. "Passing the baton: The importance of sequence, timing, technique and communication in executive succession," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 143-162, March.
    12. Miller, Danny & Steier, Lloyd & Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle, 2003. "Lost in time: intergenerational succession, change, and failure in family business," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 513-531, July.
    13. Kenneth S. Law & Chi-Sum Wong & Ming Yan & Guohua Huang, 2016. "Asian researchers should be more critical: The example of testing mediators using time-lagged data," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 319-341, June.
    14. Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Powell, Gary N., 2008. "The role of gender identity in explaining sex differences in business owners' career satisfier preferences," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 244-256, March.
    15. Andrea Colli & Carole Howorth & Mary Rose, 2013. "Long-term perspectives on family business," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 841-854, September.
    16. Gloria J. Bazzoli, 1985. "The Early Retirement Decision: New Empirical Evidence on the Influence of Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(2), pages 214-234.
    17. Smith, Brian F. & Amoako-Adu, Ben, 1999. "Management succession and financial performance of family controlled firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 341-368, December.
    18. 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.
    19. Danny Miller & Lloyd Steier & Isabelle Le Breton–Miller, 2016. "What Can Scholars of Entrepreneurship Learn from Sound Family Businesses?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 445-455, May.
    20. Aldrich, Howard E. & Cliff, Jennifer E., 2003. "The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: toward a family embeddedness perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 573-596, September.
    21. Thomas Glauben & Martin Petrick & Hendrik Tietje & Christoph Weiss, 2009. "Probability and timing of succession or closure in family firms: a switching regression analysis of farm households in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 45-54.
    22. Back, Pascal & Rosing, Kathrin & Dickler, Teresa Antonia & Kraft, Priscilla Sarai & Bausch, Andreas, 2020. "CEOs’ temporal focus, firm strategic change, and performance: Insights from a paradox perspective," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 884-899.
    23. Woodfield, Paul & Husted, Kenneth, 2017. "Intergenerational knowledge sharing in family firms: Case-based evidence from the New Zealand wine industry," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 57-69.
    24. Sucheta Nadkarni & Tianxu Chen & Jianhong Chen, 2016. "The clock is ticking! Executive temporal depth, industry velocity, and competitive aggressiveness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 1132-1153, June.
    25. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    26. G.T. Lumpkin & Keith H. Brigham & Todd W. Moss, 2010. "Long-term orientation: Implications for the entrepreneurial orientation and performance of family businesses," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3-4), pages 241-264, May.
    27. Ziguang Chen & Wing Lam & Jian Zhong, 2012. "Effects of perceptions on LMX and work performance: Effects of supervisors’ perception of subordinates’ emotional intelligence and subordinates’ perception of trust in the supervisor on LMX and, conse," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 597-616, September.
    28. Elitsa R. Banalieva & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Thomas M. Zellweger, 2015. "When do family firms have an advantage in transitioning economies? Toward a dynamic institution-based view," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1358-1377, September.
    29. Matthias Filser & Sascha Kraus & Stefan Märk, 2013. "Psychological aspects of succession in family business management," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(3), pages 256-277, March.
    30. 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.
    31. Peter J. Lane & Michael Lubatkin, 1998. "Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning," Post-Print hal-02311860, HAL.
    32. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2006. "The Role of Family in Family Firms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 73-96, Spring.
    33. Morten Bennedsen & Kasper M. Nielsen & Francisco Pérez-González & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2006. "Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance," NBER Working Papers 12356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. J. P. Eggers & Sarah Kaplan, 2009. "Cognition and Renewal: Comparing CEO and Organizational Effects on Incumbent Adaptation to Technical Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 461-477, April.
    35. Brian L. Connelly & David J. Ketchen Jr, & K. Ashley Gangloff & Christopher L. Shook, 2016. "Investor perceptions of CEO successor selection in the wake of integrity and competence failures: A policy capturing study," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2135-2151, October.
    36. Pramodita Sharma & P. Gregory Irving, 2005. "Four Bases of Family Business Successor Commitment: Antecedents and Consequences," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(1), pages 13-33, January.
    37. Thomas M. Zellweger & Franz W. Kellermanns & James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua, 2012. "Family Control and Family Firm Valuation by Family CEOs: The Importance of Intentions for Transgenerational Control," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 851-868, June.
    38. L.A.A. Van den Berghe & Steven Carchon, 2003. "Agency Relations within the Family Business System: an exploratory approach," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 171-179, July.
    39. Klaus Weber & M. Tina Dacin, 2011. "The Cultural Construction of Organizational Life: Introduction to the Special Issue," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 287-298, April.
    40. Irmak Erdogan & Emanuela Rondi & Alfredo De Massis, 2020. "Managing the Tradition and Innovation Paradox in Family Firms: A Family Imprinting Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(1), pages 20-54, January.
    41. Shipp, Abbie J. & Edwards, Jeffrey R. & Lambert, Lisa Schurer, 2009. "Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 1-22, September.
    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. Mattias Nordqvist & Karl Wennberg & Massimo Bau’ & Karin Hellerstedt, 2013. "An entrepreneurial process perspective on succession in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1087-1122, May.
    2. Marta Widz & Nadine Kammerlander, 2023. "Entrepreneurial exit intentions in emerging economies: a neoinstitutional perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 615-638, February.
    3. Stewart, Alex, 2020. "Family control, ambivalence, and preferential benefits," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4).
    4. Wennberg, Karl & Wiklund, Johan & Hellerstedt, Karin & Nordqvist, Mattias, 2011. "Implications of Intra-Family and External Ownership Transfer Of Family Firms: Short Term and Long Term Performance," Ratio Working Papers 172, The Ratio Institute.
    5. Reinhard Prügl & Dinah Isabel Spitzley, 2021. "Responding to Digital Transformation by External Corporate Venturing: An Enterprising Family Identity and Communication Patterns Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 135-164, January.
    6. Melanie Richards, 2023. "When do Non-financial Goals Benefit Stakeholders? Theorizing on Care and Power in Family Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(2), pages 333-351, May.
    7. Zybura, Jan & Zybura, Nora & Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Woywode, Michael, 2021. "Innovation in the post-succession phase of family firms: Family CEO successors and leadership constellations as resources," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).
    8. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Pramodita Sharma, 2005. "Trends and Directions in the Development of a Strategic Management Theory of the Family Firm," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(5), pages 555-575, September.
    9. Smith, Celina & Nordqvist, Mattias & De Massis, Alfredo & Miller, Danny, 2021. "When so much is at stake: Understanding organizational brinkmanship in family business," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4).
    10. 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.
    11. Bornhausen, Anna Maria, 2022. "Conceptualizing cross-country analyses of family firms: A systematic review and future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    12. 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).
    13. Francesco Chirico & Dianne H. B. Welsh & R. Duane Ireland & Philipp Sieger, 2021. "Family versus Non‐Family Firm Franchisors: Behavioural and Performance Differences," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 165-200, January.
    14. Shikha Bhardwaj & Sumedha Chauhan & Parul Gupta, 2023. "CEO Succession in Family Firm: An Integrated Framework and Future Research Insights," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 32(3), pages 667-699, November.
    15. Hauck, Jana & Prügl, Reinhard, 2015. "Innovation activities during intra-family leadership succession in family firms: An empirical study from a socioemotional wealth perspective," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 104-118.
    16. Van Gils, Anita & Huybrechts, Jolien & Minola, Tommaso & Cassia, Lucio, 2019. "Unraveling the impact of family antecedents on family firm image: A serial multiple-mediation model," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 17-27.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Peter Jaskiewicz & Joern H. Block & James G. Combs & Danny Miller, 2017. "The Effects of Founder and Family Ownership on Hired CEOs’ Incentives and Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 73-103, January.
    20. Umans, Ine & Lybaert, Nadine & Steijvers, Tensie & Voordeckers, Wim, 2021. "The influence of transgenerational succession intentions on the succession planning process: The moderating role of high-quality relationships," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).

    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:kap:asiapa:v:39:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10490-020-09748-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.