Abstract
Purpose. Aimed at the individual level of analysis, the study's purpose was to describe which of the following three motivational factors—duty to family, desire for any leadership position, and benefits and advantages of leading a family-owned business—influence next-generation members to lead their existing midsized family businesses. It was also the purpose of this study to describe if a gender difference exists in the next-generation members' (NGMs') motivation to lead. Methodology. Quantitative descriptive research was used to identify the motivational factors that influence NGMs to lead their existing midsized family businesses during or after the founder's tenure. The population consisted of 650 midsized family-owned businesses located in urban environments in Southern California, in which more than 300 NGMs were identified. The study aimed at exploring and testing, through the use of logistic regression, five hypotheses. Findings. Using Chan and Drasgow's motivation to lead (MTL) theory, the study found that duty to family, or the social-normative factor, and desire for leadership, or the affective-identity factor, are strong predictors of holding a leadership position, whereas material benefits and advantages, or the noncalculative factor, of leading a family-owned business are nonsignificant predictors for holding a leadership position. In addition, the study found gender to be a significant predictor for deciding to hold a leadership position, with most females in nonleadership positions indicating that gender prohibits them from leading their family business, more so than males in leadership and nonleadership roles. Conclusions. Chan's MTL model contributed to the understanding of the motivational component in next-generation leadership of family-owned businesses. It helped in the recognition of the important role family plays in nurturing the sense of duty and the desire for leadership in NGMs. Recommendations. Future researchers could expand research on family business by exploring cross-cultural comparisons in the transition process, different types of family businesses and NGM motivations, nonfamily professionals and the motivation to lead a family business, longitudinal studies of motivations and actual behavior of the same NGMs, contextual factors that encourage women into family business leadership, same-gender succession, and replication in geographically different and larger samples.