Predecessor CEO Retention as Board Chair in Family and Nonfamily Firms
Zellweger, Thomas Markus
Zellweger, Thomas Markus
Publication Type
Conference Proceeding
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2019-08-01
Journal
Book
Academy of Management Proceedings
Publication Volume
2019
Publication Issue
1
Publication Begin page
16560
Publication End page
16560
Publication Number of pages
Collections
Abstract
We challenge the negative view that predecessor retention – the appointment of outgoing CEOs as board chairs – deteriorates post-succession firm performance. We posit that predecessor retention improves post-succession performance in family firms since predecessors are more likely to act as mentors to their successors whereas their counterparts in nonfamily firms tend to behave opportunistically. Exploring variance among family firms, we suggest that successor mentoring is most valuable under a heightened ability of the predecessor to mentor and a pronounced need of the successor for mentoring. Probing a matched sample of 305 CEO successions in S&P1500 firms between 2001 and 2013, our results complement CEO succession research by introducing a CEO mentoring perspective and by differentiating between family and nonfamily firms.
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
CEO Succession, Predecessor Retention, Family Firms vs. Nonfamily Firms