Successfully navigating the paradox of control and autonomy in succession: The role of managing ambivalent emotions
研究了家族企业继任者如何通过情绪管理策略应对控制与自主的角色冲突，基于20个法国家族企业案例，揭示了不同动机下的情绪管理策略及其对继任者合法性和解放的影响。
This article theorises how, why and with what outcomes successors manage the paradox of control and autonomy emerging as role conflict through emotion management strategies; thus, it contributes to theory building on paradox and emotion management in family business. Drawing on 20 interpretive case studies of French family businesses operating in wide-ranging industries, we highlight emotional ambivalence towards the father/incumbent, the mother, siblings and cousins, and leadership and document their prevalence in enmeshed family businesses. We show that when motivated by self-conformity and self-protection motives, successors accept the incumbent’s control and manage ambivalent emotions through defensive strategies, such as avoidance or compromise, which contributes to the pursuit of successor legitimacy. We reveal that during successor installation, successors might reject the incumbent’s control and instead promote personal autonomy by managing ambivalent emotions through confrontational strategies, such as hyperbolised emotional reactions, emotional display of negative emotions or holism, which contributes to successor emancipation.