From family successors to successful business leaders: A qualitative study of how high-quality relationships develop in family businesses

Little attention has been given to the role of interpersonal relationships in building leadership skills next-generation successors, with most literature focusing on development their business and technical skills. Drawing Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, we qualitatively explore how high-quality develop between leaders family non-family stakeholders they impact development. Findings from interviews 24 businesses India show that through mutual respect, trust, early affiliation business, mentoring, obligation. By exploring stakeholders, contribute a finer-grained understanding successful intergenerational succession businesses. We also LMX theory by considering networks (and not just dyadic relationships) identifying two antecedents are specific (early mentoring) previously identified ones (trust, obligation).