Graphic Media Alliance

08/27/2026

A Hidden Question in Family Business Succession: What Motivates Your Successor?

Well… you became the owner of your printing business about 20 years ago. And since then, although challenges surfaced, things have gone well. You’ve led the company through growth and good performance. As you step back and take a breath, you think, “What’s next? Is it time for me to think about stepping away?”

During that thought process, your child, who has worked at your business for a few years, comes to mind. “Is my child an appropriate, suitable, and capable leader to take my place?”

That question opens the curtain to a plethora of additional questions, such as: “Does your child have an appropriate education? Does your child have enough business experience? Is your child respected in your business? Does your child have the needed traits and attributes to lead your business? Is the time needed to transition your child into your position doable?” All those questions, and more, are relevant.

But here’s one question that family business leaders rarely consider when thinking about their child as a potential successor: “What motivates my child to lead our business?” Or, in other words, “Why is the potential successor interested in the leadership position?” My eyes were opened to this question while teaching a family business course in our college of business. Our solid textbook, Managing the Family Business: Theory and Practice by Thomas Zellweger, proposed four bases for successor motivation: affective commitment, normative commitment, calculative commitment, and imperative commitment, which are discussed below:

• Affective commitment
• The potential successor “wants to” pursue a career in the family firm and contribute to the family business. This is the most desirable career opportunity for the potential successor, as they have a passion for continuing their family’s business and enhancing its performance. Their career interests are aligned with leading their family firm.
• Normative commitment
• The potential successor feels “obligated” to stay with the firm and accommodate the family. Staying with their family business is something they “should do” for their family's best interests. This might relate to family norms or legacy. “This is about my family.”
• Calculative commitment
• The potential successor’s perceived value of an ownership stake in the family business, and the potential opportunity costs lost from leaving the family firm, makes moving to something else look less promising. Based on their evaluation of the potential personal gains, they “have to” stay with the family firm to capture the potential returns. This may also connect with salary expectations and the inability to secure higher wages at another firm. The potential successor thinks, “I could get a good position with another firm, but staying with the family firm produces the best return for me.”
• Imperative commitment
• The potential successor sees their family firm as a career safe haven. They “need to” stay with their family business because they couldn’t find anything on the job market. This reflects self-doubt, as the potential successor may think, “I am really not good enough to get a job somewhere else.”

I discussed these different motivators with the owner of a family construction business who is considering his son as a potential successor. He said, “One other thought I don't see (in the motivators described above), one that I have considered to be reality in other family businesses, is a sense of entitlement, which may or may not have actually been earned or even qualified for. Not one we like to consider as it often spells disaster.” In other words, a potential successor may think, “I deserve to lead the family business.” If a potential successor seeks the leadership position because they feel entitled, they might not invest enough effort in managing the business and, most importantly, may not lead well.

Obviously, affective commitment (i.e., a deep desire and passion to stay in the family business and lead it to success) is the most powerful motivator for a potential successor and results in a smoother, more collaborative leadership transition, as well as greater successor resilience. However, normative commitment, a family obligation, also has positive effects, such as a passion for doing what is best for the family, for the family business's founders, or for maintaining the family business’s strong community reputation and brand. Those passions may subsequently prompt affective commitment.

For family business leaders, the big message when considering potential successors is to focus on their motivation, along with other questions that surface. Don’t merely assume they are holding affective commitment. A successor’s motivation strongly drives their future behaviors and effort.

How can you lead successors toward, or deepen, their affective commitment? First, assess what motivates the successor to work for the business now and enter the leadership role. This might include observing the potential successor’s daily active engagement in your family business. For example, Do you see passion for the business in the potential successor? Do you see the potential successor “caring” for the business, at a level where they step up beyond expectations? Does the potential successor contribute to the business’s performance? Is the potential successor a positive emotional force inside the business?

Also, take actions to build the potential successor’s affective commitment. When you see any of the elements mentioned above (including active engagement in the business, a passion for the business, caring for the business, stepping up beyond expectations, or other constructive actions), provide your potential successor with solid “positive reinforcement!” Tell them you like what they did… and thank them.

Consider having personal chats with the potential successor about the business. Scheduling a breakfast or lunch together, maybe once a month, may show your potential successor that you are interested in them. I see leaders of family printing businesses who are too busy or assume their potential successor is motivated to move up, so they don’t connect with them often or deeply. Have candid, ongoing discussions about the business’s current situation, its future path, challenges, and the successor’s path forward.

I recently heard an interesting sermon from the book of Proverbs about parents “disciplining” their children. In today’s world of parenting, we seem to have a negative connotation of “disciplining” children. We see it as correcting, pointing out bad actions, telling them to “stop.” However, “disciplining” goes beyond pointing out bad actions. It also includes discussing why that wasn’t a good move, how to do better, and doing so with a teaching/development tone. TEACH and LEAD your potential successor to lead. And build affective commitment!

Dr. Ralph Williams
Professor of Management
Jones College of Business
Middle Tennessee State University

Dr. Kristen Shanine
Professor of Management
Jones College of Business
Middle Tennessee State University