The impact of paternalistic leadership on family firm succession: the gender diversity issue

The paper explores the link between paternalistic leadership, succession and gender diversity in family businesses. So far, very little has known on the role of owner gender diversity in the succession process and very few studies focus on the baton pass between father and daughter and the impact of paternalism on that process. In light of this, the aim of this article is to understand how gender-related issues influences the succession process in family firms. For this purpose, using the construct of paternalism, we formulate three main propositions and propose a conceptual model that considers different types of paternalistic leadership styles among predecessor and successor. Those different types of paternalistic leadership styles are considered factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of success of succession according to the gender issue. In conclusion of this study we propose some future paths for the academic debate.