Gender diversity and father-daughter relationships: understanding the role of paternalistic leadership in family firms succession

This article examines the impact of paternalistic leadership on the gender diversity of family firm succession. To date, few studies have focused on the role of gender in the succession process, or on analysing the transfer of power to the male/female successor. The aim of this article is therefore to understand the impact of the predecessor’s paternalistic leadership style on the success of the succession process and how gender-related issues affect this. In particular, we focus on the father-daughter relationship. Using the concept of paternalism, we formulate three main propositions and propose a conceptual model that considers different types of paternalistic leadership styles as factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of success of the succession, according to the gender of the successor. Finally, we propose some future paths for the academic debate.