From family successors to successful business leaders: A qualitative study of how high-quality relationships develop in family businesses

Little attention has been given to the role of interpersonal relationships in building the leadership skills of next-generation successors, with most literature focusing on the development of their business and technical skills. Drawing on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, we qualitatively explore how high-quality relationships develop between next-generation leaders and family and non-family stakeholders and how they impact leadership development. Findings from interviews with 24 next-generation leaders of family businesses in India show that high-quality relationships develop through mutual respect, trust, early affiliation with the business, mentoring, and mutual obligation. By exploring how high-quality relationships develop between next-generation family business leaders and family and non-family stakeholders, we contribute to a finer-grained understanding of successful intergenerational succession in family businesses. We also contribute to LMX theory by considering networks of relationships (and not just dyadic relationships) and by identifying two antecedents that are specific to family businesses (early affiliation with the business and mentoring) to the previously identified ones (trust, mutual respect, and mutual obligation).