Being rationally deviant! The logic underlying the discontinuation of the streak of Vietnamese artisanship family business legacies

This study examines a phenomenon that has been previously explored but often reduced to a single dimension and rarely understood as an evolving process underlying the decision to decline family business succession. Moving beyond dominant motivation- and conflict-based explanations, it emphasizes successors’ personal judgement and rational evaluation. Thirteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews with former potential successors in artisanal family businesses in Northern Vietnam show a three-phase decision pattern: perceived role conflict, the interplay of loss aversion and rational choice logic, and post-decision emotional ambivalence. The findings underscore rationality and subjective perceptions as key predictors of non-succession and reveal its complex emotional consequences.