WHY SECOND GENERATIONS ARE RELUCTANT TO SUCCEED FAMILY BUSINESS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN CHINESE FAMILY BUSINESS

摘要

Approximately 80% of small and medium-sized enterprises in China are family owned. They consist of the important and integral part of Chinese economy. Currently, most family businesses are experiencing the transition of generations and the founding entrepreneurs still have strong intention to hand over the enterprise to the second generation of family. As smooth succession is unanimously regarded as one of the most important managerial issues for the continuous development of family business, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine what factors and how they would influence the second generations' attitude to succeed the family business. 121 family businesses in southern China are surveyed. The results show that value congruence and organizational commitment affect the succession attitude of second generation significantly and the impact of family relationship on succession intention is mediated by organizational commitment. Implication of the results for succession issue is also discussed in the paper.