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Stepping into my shoes: generativity as a mediator of the relationship between business owners' age and family succession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2011

HANNES ZACHER ,
ANTJE SCHMITT  and
MICHAEL M. GIELNIK
HANNES ZACHER*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
ANTJE SCHMITT
Affiliation:
Department of Business Psychology, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.
MICHAEL M. GIELNIK
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore Business School, Department of Management & Organisation, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
*
Address for correspondence: Hannes Zacher, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The authors investigated generativity – the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation – as a mediator of the relationship between family business owners' age and succession in family businesses. Data came from 155 family business owners in Germany from different industries between the ages of 26 and 83 years. Results showed that age was positively related to generativity, and that generativity, in turn, positively influenced an objective measure of family succession. Generativity fully mediated the positive relationship between age and family succession. The findings suggest that generativity is an important psycho-social construct for understanding ageing, careers and succession in family business settings.

Keywords

generativityagesuccessionfamily businessescareers
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , May 2012 , pp. 673 - 696
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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