An update on family firm succession: A systematic literature review and future research directions

Tobias Reif, Dustin Bauer, Sebastian Junge and Verena Hossnofsky

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2025, vol. 16, issue 3

Abstract: Family firm succession has received considerable academic attention, focusing on various topics such as the actors involved, process models, surrounding contexts, and process outcomes. A systematic literature review was conducted to provide updated field assessments. Our analysis identifies two core research streams: succession candidates and process models. We reveal the distinctions between family and non-family succession candidates within four sets of antecedents connected to performance and socioemotional wealth outcomes. In addition, we identified various succession process models that led to different process understandings. By comparing and synthesizing previous studies, we propose a succession process model that incorporates the aforementioned antecedents as vital explanatory variables in the succession process. These antecedents trigger and shape the resulting gatekeeping events between the process phases. We argue that the interrelations among the phases, their content, and their gatekeepers lead to different succession outcomes. Our insights enhance the understanding of successful succession and post-succession outcomes in family firms.

Keywords: Family firm; Family firm succession; Successor attribute; Succession process; Literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877858525000129
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:16:y:2025:i:3:s1877858525000129

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/719791/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 719791/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2025.100671

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Family Business Strategy is currently edited by J.H. Astrachan

More articles in Journal of Family Business Strategy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().