The study sought to understand the elements that impact the leadership succession planning process in FOBs. FOBs provide over 50% of the global economy’s GDP, yet only 13% survive to the third generation. Family business succession is critical to lowering failure rates and ensuring long-term success. The study, conducted in Zomba, Malawi, used agency and steward theory to connect the findings to the theoretical framework.
The study used a Mixed-method approach and employed structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews (IDI) to collect quantitative and qualitative components, respectively. The researcher selected Sixty Family-Owned Businesses for a quantitative study using multi-stage stratified sampling. From the quantitative sample, 10 Family-owned Businesses were selected using Purposive Sampling. The Real Estate, Hotel and Restaurants, and Retail Trading databases were the sampling frame for the FOB’s sample population.
For the quantitative component, the researcher used SPSS 19 to perform a Logistic Regression Analysis on the independent and dependent variables. Direct content assessment was used to examine the quality of the qualitative data. The study found elements such as incumbents, successors, family, and business affect strategy of transition in FOBs.
FOBs impact economies of any country and create employment opportunities for country citizens, the results willcontribute to better understand of family-owned business succession planning