Intergenerational succession and internationalisation strategy of family SMEs: Evidence from China

Internationalisation is a key dimension of a firm's strategy process. Yet, research on why and how family firms internationalise is underdeveloped. As one of the most critical issues family firms face, how intergenerational succession can influence their internationalisation remains an important question. Given the extraordinary succession and internationalisation circumstances pertaining to China, we conducted a qualitative case study analysis of eleven newly internationalised Chinese small- and medium-sized family firms that had recently undergone a succession from the first to the second generation. Three distinct intergenerational succession patterns among our case firms were identified, revealing three underlying types of incumbent-successor relationships. Based on our findings, we put forth propositions on how these patterns influence the next-generation's level of attitudinal commitment toward and resources available for internationalisation, and link these to the firm's overall internationalisation capabilities and international involvement. Our findings suggest that the connection between intergenerational succession and internationalisation strategy of family firms is significantly influenced by the nature of the underlying incumbent-successor relationship and therefore much more complex than previously considered.     

How feedback about leadership potential impacts ambition,organizational commitment,and performance

In the present research we report results from two experimental studies that examine how feedback about leadership potential impacts leadership ambition, organizational commitment, and performance. Study 1 used an experimental vignette methodology that controls for prior performance. Results show that individuals who receive feedback that they have low potential to be a future leader have lower ambition and organizational commitment relative to those who receive feedback that they have high potential to be a future leader. Study 2 provides evidence of the causal behavioral effects of feedback about leadership potential using a real task effort environment. Results show that participants informed to be unlikely future leaders display lower performance in a subsequent task than participants informed to be likely future leaders. The findings from the two studies demonstrate that information about leadership potential affects subsequent ambition to become leaders as well as performance. We discuss the implications of these findings for the importance of followership, talent management, and leadership succession.     

How the Pygmalion Effect operates in intra-family succession: Shared expectations in family SMEs

The Pygmalion Effect is a case of the self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby the expectations of leaders influence the performance of followers (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009; Rosenthal, 1993). Intra-family succession processes, which are hardly ever formalised in small- and medium-sized family enterprises, provide a natural context to explore the perceptions that predecessors have about their successors and where the Pygmalion Effect is expected to occur. However, little is known about how a predecessor’s expectations can affect intra-family firm succession processes. Based on qualitative interviews with key family and non-family members, expectations were analysed in four in-depth case studies of intra-family SME succession processes. The findings show that the Pygmalion Effect operates over time and embraces incumbent, successor, and key stakeholders’ expectations, which support the new leader when facing succession-related challenges.     

The weakness of strong ties: Sampling bias,social ties,and nepotism in family business succession

Decision-making is a complex cognitive activity filled with bias. Leader decision-making is unique because it occurs in a social context. We examine how biases resulting from social network dynamics complicate leaders' decision-making. In particular, we focus on a specific case of leader cognition: nepotism in the succession decisions in the context of family businesses. Succession often leads to a decline in performance because leaders frequently choose family members as their successor, a form of nepotism. We show that even when a leader can overcome individual decision biases, a bias in sampling resulting from families' strong ties can still allow a leader to wrongly conclude that family members are better qualified than external candidates when the opposite is true. We demonstrate this phenomenon using simulation modeling and explore solutions to family business succession planning.     

Fresh in the saddle: The influence of a new CEO's vision and origin,and CEO succession type on market actors' reactions

CEO succession is a critical event in the life of a company. How external stakeholders respond to it, can affect the company's valuation. This study investigates how securities analysts' and investors' reactions to CEO succession are affected by the interplay between the charisma of the new CEO's vision, the new CEO's origin (whether an insider or outsider), and the type of CEO succession (whether routine, dismissal or interim). Drawing on the literature on signaling, we suggest that because a charismatic vision emits a positive signal about the company's future performance, it will affect market actors' reactions by either weakening or strengthening the influence of the signals emitted by other succession context contingencies, namely, CEO origin and succession type. To test our predictions regarding analysts' and investors' reactions, we respectively analyze panel data and conduct an event study. The results support most of our predictions. We discuss the study's contributions and implications.     

A productive clash of cultures: Injecting economics into leadership research

Research on leadership in economics has developed in parallel to the literature in management and psychology and links between the fields have been sparse. Whereas modern leadership scholars mostly focus on transformational and related leadership styles, economists have mainly emphasized the role of contracts, control rights, and incentives. We argue that both fields could profit from enriching their approach with insights from the other field. We review and synthesize the economics literature on leadership in organizations and discuss how leadership scholars in management and psychology can benefit from the detailed understanding of transactional methods that economists have developed. We link the contributions in economics to a broad set of topics including the foundations of leadership, leader emergence, and leader effectiveness. At the same time, we also point out limitations of the economic approach and outline how the integration of leadership research and economics would broaden the scope of future studies.     

How new leaders affect strategic change following a succession event: A critical review of the literature

In this study we review literature on leaders' impact on strategic change in the context of CEO succession events. We critically examine the progress made by research within the field focusing on four questions: WHY, WHAT, HOW, and WHEN. WHY addresses the theoretical arguments put forth in the literature to explain the phenomenon of post-succession strategic change. WHAT addresses the contingency factors that have been argued to affect leaders' impact on strategic change in succession contexts. HOW addresses the way, in which strategic change manifests itself within firms. Finally, WHEN addresses the temporal dimension of strategic change. Overall, we find that although research on the leadership succession strategic change (LSSC) relationship is immature with attention being focused on only few theoretical explanations and research questions, it is indeed evolving. We find need for improvements to theory, research questions pursued, and methodology and offer several opportunities to extend the literature along these needs.     

Perspective on succession planning in multiple MNCs: interview with Aparna Sharma

?Organizations are often confronted with the challenges of developing a continuous flow of functional leaders who can operate effectively in different cultural contexts. To maintain a sustainable leadership structure across different functional units, organizations need to put in place an efficient succession plan to meet any unexpected leadership void. The existing scholar practitioner literature offers limited information regarding evidence-based practices adopted by organizations for creating an effective succession planning strategy. The interview presented here is an attempt to highlight different approaches and strategies of effective succession management for ensuring leadership continuity and harnessing talent from within the organizations.     

Leader development for adolescent girls: State of the field and a framework for moving forward

For most leaders, their first exposure to formal leader development training occurs in adolescence, through school, extra-curricular activities, or youth leader development programs. As with many adolescent experiences, the processes and challenges of leader development are different for girls than they are for boys. With increasing calls to address gender inequity worldwide, adolescent girls' leader development has become an important cross-disciplinary research topic. Though the literature on developing adolescent girls has grown substantially, it is fragmented across disciplines, with a lack of integration and theoretical framing hindering our advancement in knowledge. Therefore, there is a critical need for a comprehensive review article to guide scholars to build an integrated knowledge of how leader development occurs for adolescent girls. We searched for literature relevant to leader and leadership development designed for adolescent girls and reviewed a total of 108 academic papers (2000–2019). We identify and critique five themes in this literature that hold important implications for the leader development of adolescent girls. To advance knowledge, we offer social cognitive theory as a theoretical frame to understand adolescent girls' leader development and provide guidance on future research. Finally, we offer insights on how the processes and practices of adolescent girls' leader development could inform adult leader development.     

家族企业的权威系统与代际传承

从合约理论的视角提出家族企业领导人的权威是对以其为中心的不完全合约的有效治理结构;并进一步以盖尔西克的三环模式为基础,将其依赖的权威解析为来源于所有权的合法权威,来源于管理才能、人格特质的领袖魅力权威和来源于亲缘关系的家族权威3类.提出在家族企业代际传承过程中,合法权威可以通过股权转移和管理职位任命而直接继承;另外2类权威却只能重建,由此造成代际传承中的权威失落和传承失败.采用实证方法检验家族权威与领袖魅力权威差别的同时,运用权威系统分析红豆集团和海鑫集团2个典型案例,突出代际传承中权威重建的意义.     

Leadership succession in different types of organizations: What business and political successions may learn from each other

We systematically review the recent impactful leadership succession literature in three types of organizations/contexts, namely publicly-traded, privately-owned (mostly family businesses), and political organizations. We compare and contrast these literatures, and argue that business and political leadership succession researchers and practitioners can learn from each other. The purpose of the review is fourfold. First, to take stock of the existing leadership succession research in these three related literatures – that examine the same essential phenomenon – but that have evolved separately. Previous reviews have focused mostly on CEO succession (not the broader phenomenon of leadership succession) mainly in publicly-traded firms; and to our knowledge no (recent) comprehensive literature reviews on the important topics of privately-owned and political organization leadership succession exist yet. Second, to develop an overarching integrative conceptual framework (ICF) that structures the overall leadership succession literature and shows the potential areas of integration and difference among the three literatures. Third, to develop three organizational frameworks – one for each organization type – that review what we know and what we should know about leadership succession in each type. Fourth, to critically compare the ICF, the three organizational frameworks, and the three literatures to better understand the similarities and differences among these literatures. By doing so and using a multidisciplinary approach we aim to contribute to the field in the following ways. Firstly, we seek to synthesize the field of leadership succession to identify important research questions that are ripe for study in the near future in the business and political science disciplines. Secondly, we strive to uncover what succession researchers and practitioners across these disciplines may learn from each other.     

Leader distance: a review and a proposed theory

The concept of leader distance has been subsumed in a number of leadership theories; however, with few exceptions, leadership scholars have not expressly defined nor discussed leader distance, how distance is implicated in the legitimization of a leader, and how distance affects leader outcomes. We review available literature and demonstrate that integral to untangling the dynamics of the leadership influencing process is an understanding of leader–follower distance. We present distance in terms of three independent dimensions: leader–follower physical distance, perceived social distance, and perceived task interaction frequency. We discuss possible antecedents of leader–follower distance, including organizational and task characteristics, national culture, and leader/follower implicit motives. Finally, we use configural theory to present eight typologies (i.e., coexistence of a cluster or constellation of independent factors serving as a unit of analysis) of leader distance and propose an integrated cross-level model of leader distance, linking the distance typologies to leader outcomes at the individual and group levels of analysis.     

Leader political support: Reconsidering leader political behavior

Historically, organizational politics and political leader behavior have been framed and characterized negatively, as self-serving and counter-productive. However, scholars have noted that political acts can achieve positive ends, and have called for further discussions of positive forms of political leadership. Continuing in this recent stream of research on positive perspectives on organizational politics, a framework of leader political support is proposed, suggesting that the positive features of leader political behavior, and testable propositions are developed. The leader political support construct is defined and its antecedents are explicated utilizing a social capital perspective. Additionally, social exchange theory is used to explain the consequences of leader political support. Contributions to both leadership and organizational politics literatures and directions for future research are discussed.     

Research on leadership in a cross-cultural context: Making progress, and raising new questions

It is almost cliché to say that there has been an explosion in the amount of research on leadership in a cross-cultural context. In this review, we describe major advances and emerging patterns in this research domain over the last several years. Our starting point for this update is roughly 1996–1997, since those are the dates of two important reviews of the cross-cultural leadership literature [specifically, House, Wright, and Aditya (House, R. J., Wright, N. S., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). Cross-cultural research on organizational leadership: A critical analysis and a proposed theory. In: P. C. Earley, & M. Erez (Eds.), New perspectives on international industrial/organizational psychology (pp. 535–625). San Francisco, CA) and Dorfman (Dorfman, P. W. (1996). International and cross-cultural leadership research. In: B. J. Punnett, & O. Shenkar (Eds.), Handbook for international management research, pp. 267–349, Oxford, UK: Blackwell)]. We describe the beginnings of the decline in the quest for universal leadership principles that apply equivalently across all cultures, and we focus on the increasing application of the dimensions of culture identified by Hofstede [Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values (Abridged ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage] and others to describe variation in leadership styles, practices, and preferences. We also note the emergence of the field of cross-cultural leadership as a legitimate and independent field of endeavor, as reflected in the emergence of publication outlets for this research, and the establishment of long-term multinational multi-investigator research programs on the topic. We conclude with a discussion of progress made since the two pieces that were our departure point, and of progress yet to be made.     

Leadership and followership identity processes: A multilevel review

A growing body of leadership literature focuses on leader and follower identity dynamics, levels, processes of development and outcomes. Despite the importance of the phenomena, there has been surprisingly little effort to systematically review the widely dispersed literature on leader and follower identity. In this review we map existing studies on a multilevel framework that integrates levels-of-the self (individual, relational and collective) with the levels-of-analysis (intrapersonal, interpersonal and group) on which leader or follower identity work takes place. We also synthesize work from multiple research paradigms, such as social psychology experimental studies, narrative accounts of leaders' identity work and field studies on antecedents, outcomes, mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions. Finally, we outline implications for leadership development and call attention to key themes we see ripe for future research.     

Leader cognition: Approaches and findings

Although few scholars would dispute the point leaders must think, cognition has not, perhaps, received the attention it warrants in studies of leadership. The intent of the present special issue is to examine how cognition influences leader emergence and performance. In this introductory piece we argue that cognitive skills, often domain specific cognitive skills, strongly influence leader emergence and performance. The conditions that moderate the impact of these skills are also examined along with the ways in which cognitive capacities shape subsequent leader behavior. The implications of cognition for leader development and directions for future research are discussed.     

Moving beyond the employee: The role of the organizational context in leader workplace aggression

Management and psychology scholars are increasingly seeking to examine how organizational characteristics that contextualize leadership shape the occurrence, impact, and prevention of leader workplace aggression. However, a comprehensive review of this literature has not yet been conducted, so a systematic understanding is lacking regarding questions including: (1) when, why and how is such aggression more likely to occur; (2) how do contextual factors enable or constrain effects of these leader behaviors on employees; and (3) how can organizations proactively manage their internal dynamics to prevent or reduce such incidences? Drawing on Porter and McLaughlin's (2006) components of organizational context, I review existing leader aggression research that intersects with seven categories: (1) culture/climate; (2) goals/purposes; (3) people/composition; (4) processes; (5) state/condition; (6) structure; and (7) time. I then offer theoretical propositions for future work, which are grounded in the roles and responsibilities inherent to the nature of leadership and coupled with the changing nature of organizational life. As a result, I set the research agenda for the next decade of organizational context × leader workplace aggression studies.