Continuing the family business: Successor commitment and career choice in Finnish family firms

This study examines the career choices of potential next-generation family business successors (NEXTs) and their willingness to continue family businesses, with a focus on Finnish firms. It adopts a qualitative multiple-case study design and a phenomenographic approach. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews and two focus group interviews and analyzed using thematic coding. The study builds on Sharma and Irving’s (2005) model of successor commitment—comprising affective, normative, and continuance dimensions—while incorporating the adoption of entrepreneurial behavior. The findings indicate that, alongside family expectations and NEXTs’ identity and psychological ownership, attitudes toward entrepreneurship and enacted entrepreneurial behavior also shape career choices. This study contributes by identifying key factors influencing NEXTs’ decisions and offers insights for incumbents, successors, and succession practitioners. The findings also have practical implications for succession planning and for the design of entrepreneurship education and training programs tailored to the next generation.