Family business predecessor announced to staff that with his son, he is going to commence a succession process in the family firm. Two of the key employees rose and announced their intention to leave the company after...Family business predecessor announced to staff that with his son, he is going to commence a succession process in the family firm. Two of the key employees rose and announced their intention to leave the company after the predecessor passed leadership of the firm to successor. In a firm with a total number of nine employees, such a situation can prove catastrophic. Why did these employees react that way？ What is behind their motivation？ Using these two employees as examples, this study discusses the elements which influence the development and continuance of employees＇ organisational commitment. Inspired by the example, this study gives answers by means of qualitative research methods to the following research questions： Could acceptance predict the development and continuation of organisational commitment during a process of organisational change and how do the concepts of psychological acceptance adaptation and organisational commitment link together in employee cognitive processing during organisational change？ The empirical setting of this study includes seven small family fLrms and the study has carded out an overview of family business succession （FBS） from the viewpoint of non-family employees in Finnish and Irish family firms. Results of the study indicate how employees＇ commitment forms and changes during a certain change process. A key element for development and the continuance of commitment is acceptance. As an outcome of this paper, a new model will be developed where acceptance, adaptation, and commitment （AAC-model） are combined, in essence, three dimensions （functional, legal-economic, and psychological） of changes in FBS.展开更多
文摘Family business predecessor announced to staff that with his son, he is going to commence a succession process in the family firm. Two of the key employees rose and announced their intention to leave the company after the predecessor passed leadership of the firm to successor. In a firm with a total number of nine employees, such a situation can prove catastrophic. Why did these employees react that way？ What is behind their motivation？ Using these two employees as examples, this study discusses the elements which influence the development and continuance of employees＇ organisational commitment. Inspired by the example, this study gives answers by means of qualitative research methods to the following research questions： Could acceptance predict the development and continuation of organisational commitment during a process of organisational change and how do the concepts of psychological acceptance adaptation and organisational commitment link together in employee cognitive processing during organisational change？ The empirical setting of this study includes seven small family fLrms and the study has carded out an overview of family business succession （FBS） from the viewpoint of non-family employees in Finnish and Irish family firms. Results of the study indicate how employees＇ commitment forms and changes during a certain change process. A key element for development and the continuance of commitment is acceptance. As an outcome of this paper, a new model will be developed where acceptance, adaptation, and commitment （AAC-model） are combined, in essence, three dimensions （functional, legal-economic, and psychological） of changes in FBS.
