Coming Home or Breaking Free? : Career choice intentions of the next generation in family businesses

Family companies are characterized by their unique combination of dynastic will,
family ownership and professional management: this connection produces a dynamic that offers competitive advantages, but it also harbors potential risks.
Generational change in family businesses is a highly complex process and often constitutes a balancing act for everyone involved - family, company and owner. Resolving issues is both emotionally led as well as practical; alongside fiscal, legal and financial questions are the very personal aims and values of the family members and, in particular, the views and ambitions of the next generation of family business owners. This study attempts to provide insight on the succession intentions of students with a family business background. It draws from a large- scale dataset collected in 2011 as part of the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS) project, which analyzes the entrepreneurial intentions of students around the world. Given that the founding intentions of students have been analyzed in great depth over recent years, the present study complements the picture by focusing on succession intentions. We believe that our study provides some fundamentally new insights into family firm succession.
We investigate in detail what motivates students to pursue a career in their parents' firm. To this end, we explore the individual, family, business and societal-level drivers of succession intentions and conclude with the implications for both senior generation family firm owners and students from family businesses.