Subjective Experiences of Affective Relationships in Succession Processes in Family Businesses

Abstract This article aims to understand the subjective experiences of affective relationships between successors and predecessors in the succession process of family businesses. Qualitative research using the thematic oral history method was employed to explore this phenomenon. Data were collected in five companies through interviews with ten entrepreneurs (five parents and five children) who had experienced the succession process. The data analysis followed the procedures of sociological discourse analysis (SDA), based on the Spanish tradition. The results revealed three dimensions of the subjective experience of affective relationships: love and renunciation, frustration and resentment, and forgiveness. These findings underscore the complexity of affective relationships between predecessors and successors within the contexts of both business and family. They also highlight the affective dynamics between parents and children from a psychoanalytic perspective, emphasizing the contribution of work psychodynamics as a theoretical lens for understanding the succession process in family firms. It can be concluded that subjective experiences are intrinsic to the relationships between predecessors and successors, forming a bidirectional relationship between family and organizational experiences that influence each other mutually. These experiences may result in suffering, anguish, pleasure, or desires, all of which are felt and manifested in the lives of the parent, child, predecessor, and successor. Future studies could explore other subjective dimensions of the succession process, such as power dynamics, gender relations, attachment issues, and conflicts among successors.