Leaders of family-owned businesses pay more attention to the attainment of personal and organizational objectives than to leadership succession plans for continuity when they leave the business. Despite the significant contributions of family-owned businesses to the social and economic development of nations, founders and leaders still contend with the challenge of leadership transfer to the next generation. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenology study was to examine the lived experiences of past and current leaders of family-owned businesses in Lagos regarding the challenge of preparing the next generation for leadership succession. The theory of knowledge transfer formed the conceptual framework for the study. Purposeful sampling method was used to select 15 business owners and leaders from 5 family-owned businesses in Lagos. Data collection methods included in-depth and open-ended telephone interviews. The Steve-Colaizzi-Keen design was used to analyze, and code data to identify prevailing themes. Eight themes emerged in the study of which six corroborate some current studies on leadership succession, while the remaining two new themes could be described as potential gaps in the literature. The study findings may help resolve complexities of determining, choosing, and mentoring potential leaders for eventual takeover when there is a vacuum. The results of the study highlighted the need for education or a foundation to support family-owned businesses in southwest Nigeria in the transfer of leadership to successive generations. This could prevent family-owned businesses from going into extinction at the exit of the founders.

Succession planning and successor selection is a key theme in the FOB (Family Owned Business) literature. To enable the business to continue, FOB owner needs to decide who will be the next leader before resigning. Although the succession process is one of the most researched areas within the family business field, studies have mostly focused only on incumbent or successor viewpoints. However, the purpose of this study is to fill the gap and offers a different perspective on daughters’ succession by analysing owner, successor, and employee points of view. This dissertation aims to identify cultural patterns, and how factors based on different cultural patterns influence the daughter succession process in Turkish family businesses. Additionally, aim to reach novel insights regarding women entrepreneurs in Turkish FOBs, particularly how they gain business leadership positions, and the explicit and implicit factors determining the succession process. The research is grounded in the multidimensional model of succession process in family business theory, which has been expanded to include interactive and collaborative action, by addressing the family business cultural effects associated with stewardship theory. The adoption for this study of an epistemological interpretivist philosophy within a social constructivist perspective is justified. Data was collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 FOB owners and daughters, and surveys of 252 FOB employees to obtain information on their perspectives about selecting daughters as FOB successors.

Family businesses are a critical part of the African economy, yet many fail within one generation and most within two generations. Moreover, women are generally not part of leadership succession in family businesses due largely to institutional logics that serve as impediments to women in business leadership. The intent of this dissertation is to fill a gap in the research literature and knowledge on the experiences of female successors in African family businesses by investigating the influence of institutional logics (cultural, ownership, management and family factors) on the leadership succession of women in African family business. A qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews was conducted with eight female leadership successors in African family business representing different industries. Participants were asked about their perceptions about being a woman in business, the nature of female succession in family-owned businesses, and impediments they perceive to the success of women in business. Ultimately, the findings uncovered various institutional, familial and individual impediments to women taking on leadership roles, such as institutional attitudes towards women, gender stereotypes, masculine attitudes of entrepreneurship, a lack of access to resources, and access to education and training amongst girls and women. Overall, this research contributes to theory and knowledge on how women’s succession in a family firm is affected by institutionalized African legal and sociocultural norms’ and the impact of management, ownership and family elements in family businesses. / Business Administration/International Business Administration

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