Leadership in the Family Business in Relation to the Desirable Attributes for the Successor: Evidence from Mexico

Abstract

In order to survive, family businesses must put in place strategies to achieve some continuity; therefore, the designation and legitimation of leadership, as well as the desirable attributes for the successor, emerge as the main strategies to develop. The objective of the present study is to analyze the types of leadership and the chosen desirable attributes for the succession process / successor. In order to achieve it, 144 questionnaires to executives and employees from tourist organizations of service, trade and industry were collected in the northwestern region of Mexico. It was based on a Likert scale type (1 to 5), including sections about leadership (constituted by five dimensions) and the desirable attributes of the successor (constituted by two dimensions). The main findings emphasize the leadership, within the family enterprise before, during and after the succession process, present a constant of importance in the presence of the different types: expert, referential and laissez faire/mission and the administrative attributes during the first four generations. On the other hand, the participatory leadership decreases and the autocratic increases. To enrich the subject of study, it is recommended to include different aspects related to the Latin American context and the generation of inferences with new elements, such as motivational profiles, labor stressors, interactions of Latino families, among others. All of this in order to try to map the family business.

Cognition, emotion and action: persistent sources of parent–offspring paradoxes in the family business

“…Managing paradoxes is essential to the sustainability (Ingram et al , 2016) and longevity of FBs (Zellweger et al , 2012) because ineptitude in addressing contradictions in values, motives and emotions are one of FBs' main weaknesses (Schuman et al , 2010). Managing paradoxical tensions at the parent–offspring dyadic level is especially important to avoid conflicts that may even obstruct the succession process (De Massis et al , 2008; Lansberg, 1988); a process that can determine the success or failure of the FB (Corrales-Villegas et al , 2018). However, the understanding of “paradoxical tensions within a family business, their antecedents, consequences and dynamic processes, is still in its infancy” (McAdam et al , 2020, p. 140).…”