Confucianism, successor choice, and firm performance in family firms: Evidence from China

Chen, Mengyuan, Xiao, Jason Zezhong and Zhao, Yang ORCID: 0000-0002-5018-6953 (2021) Confucianism, successor choice, and firm performance in family firms: Evidence from China. JOURNAL OF CORPORATE FINANCE, 69. p. 102023.

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Abstract

This study examines the nexus between Confucianism, the choice of the leadership successor, and firm performance in family firms in China. It provides original evidence that firm founders who are deeply influenced by Confucianism have a higher likelihood of choosing a family member or a guanxi-connected nonfamily member as the successor. Moreover, family/guanxi-connected successors have a positive effect on firm performance compared with their counterparts outside of the family/guanxi circle. One underlying reason is that, affected by Confucianism, only the family/guanxi-connected successors can acquire the founder's specialized assets via pre-succession internal managerial experience, which, in turn, enables them to outperform other successors.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Source info: Journal of Corporate Finance, 2021（https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102023）
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Family businesses, Leadership succession, Successor choice, Confucianism, Guanxi, Returnees, Firm performance, China
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	21 Jun 2021 07:56
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 22:34
DOI:	10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102023
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3126965