article · Istanbul Business Research
Sustaining and growing family business legacies depends heavily on effective succession, yet academic focus has largely concentrated on succession planning rather than individual successor qualities. A review of 58 academic documents identified nine notable successor attributes from existing literature. Seven of these emerged as prime attributes based on how frequently they were cited: prior business experience, length of involvement, a clear willingness to continue the firm under a defined vision, leadership capabilities, positive family relationships, being an idealistic family member, and trustworthiness. Two additional traits, age and educational background, were documented as important but secondary. The findings suggest that possessing a combination of these prime and important attributes equips a successor to better preserve and expand the long-term legacy of a family enterprise.
Family businesses often struggle to survive across generations when transitions lack suitable leadership. By identifying the critical traits that make a successor effective, founders and family firms can look beyond simple succession plans. Understanding these key personal and professional qualities helps organisations evaluate and prepare the next generation to protect and grow their commercial legacy.
This research provides an evidence base that family business advisers, executive search consultants, and business owners can use to design successor evaluation frameworks and leadership development programmes. Because the insights are derived from a literature review rather than newly tested operational tools, practical implementation is at an early conceptual stage and requires translation into formal assessment rubrics.
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This study was conducted within the context of sustaining and growing family business legacies. Thus, the objective was to extract and document prime successor attributes given that previous studies have focused on succession planning. To achieve this objective, an online document search was conducted using Google Scholar, Researchgate, Web of Science, the EBSCOhost database, Scopus, and Crossref. From the search, 58 documents were retained because they mentioned at least successor attribute or discussed closely succession issues raising an attribute concern. Review results documented nine attributes; seven of which were considered by the authors as prime attributes (business experience, time of involvement, willingness to take over and continue family business based on defined vision, leadership skills, positive family relationship, idealistic family member and trustworthiness) due to their high frequency of appearance in literature, while two (age and education background) were considered by the authors as important but not prime attributes. The study concluded that a blend of these attributes in a successor would cause better results as concerns sustaining and growing a family business legacy.
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DOI: 10.26650/ibr.2025.54.1369477
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