Abstract

The current study examines intergenerational knowledge sharing in Chinese family firms from the perspective of the successor. Drawing upon the attachment (Bowlby, 1969) and social identity (Tajfel, 1978) theories, we demonstrate the important role of developing a sense of emotional ownership among successors in order for intergenerational knowledge sharing to occur. Results from 164 successor-founder dyads in family firms based in China demonstrate that emotional ownership makes successors more willing to take over the family firm, which in turn, motivates them to share knowledge with the senior generation. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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