Succession in Multi-Generational Family Firms. An Exploratory Study into the Period of Anticipatory Socialization

Abstract

Family business scholars have argued that succession entails all actions and events that occur between generations to transfer ownership and/or management. Building on this definition, I focus explicitly on the period prior to the successor’s entering the business. I borrow the concept of “anticipatory socialization” from organizational so-ciologists and argue that this period has unique characteristics in multi-generational family firms mainly because of the close link between the successor’s choice of occu-pation and his or her choice of organization. In an explorative historical case study I investigate the unique features of anticipatory socialization in family firms. My find-ings include a detailed description of the information channels and social capital transfers during that period as well as an assessment of the role of narrations, symbol-ic objects, and formal and informal education. In the last part of the paper, I link these findings to Pierre Bourdieu’s capital theory, which allows for a more systematic ap-proach to anticipatory socialization in family business.