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The Incumbent's Dilemma when Exiting the Firm: Torn between the Family and the Corporate Logic
Journal
Academy of Management Proceedings
ISSN
0065-0668
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2014-08-05
Abstract
When considering their own exit from the firm, incumbents are often challenged with two dilemmas. First, they need to hand over management to either a family-internal or a family-external successor. Second, they are often confronted with the trade-off between the successors' levels of ability versus willingness, particularly when relying on family-internal candidates. Based on institutional logics literature we argue that these dilemmas arise as the corporate and the family logic lead to conflicting expectations regarding which exit route and which candidate to prefer. We hypothesize that past experiences, the level of education, and situational stimuli affect incumbents' preferences for different succession candidates by focusing individual attention on either corporate or familial goals. In order to test our hypotheses we rely on responses to an exit scenario, completed by 2024 owner-managers of Swiss SMEs. Our findings contribute to literatures on entrepreneurial exit, institutional logics, and family firm succession.
Language
English
Keywords
entrepreneurial exit
institutional logics
family firm succession
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings. 2014
Publisher
Academy of Management
Start page
1
End page
40
Pages
40
Event Title
74th Academy of Management Annual Meeting (AOM) 2014 "The Power of Words"
Event Location
Philadelphia, PA
Event Date
01.-05.08.2014
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
230347