家族企业子女接班人身份形成机理及其对接班意愿和行为的作用机制：一项多层次动态性研究

China will experience a historical peak of intergeneration succession among family businesses. However, both practitioners and researchers are concerned about the next generation's extremely low willingness to take over the business. What is worse, even among those who are willing to take over family business, low involvement to and deviant behavior toward family business still exist, which will likely result in a failed succession process or to a decline of business performance after succession. Driven by this practical phenomenon, this research aims to seek the root factor determining next generation's attitude and behavior toward succession and the relevant functioning mechanisms. Identity theory, which argues that identity provides fundamental reference framework for individual's intention and behavior, will serve as theoretical foundation of this research. We propose that desirable attitude and behavior regarding succession among next generation originates in their "successor identity of family business (SI-FB)", which is a likely part of next generation's comprehensive individual identity. By sticking closely to the current social and internal context in which family businesses are embedded, this research will contribute to the understanding of the process how family business next generation construct their individual identity, the structure and contents of SI-FB, and based on that, to build a multilevel dynamic theoretical framework to explain and estimate the next generation's attitude and behavior toward succession. Our approach will employ a mix of grounded theory method, questionnaire surveys and case study.Specifically, our research goals are as follows: (1) With grounded theory method, we explore the process in which next generation construct their individual identity and identify the contents and structure of SI-FB. A questionnaire for measuring SI-FB will also be developed；(2) Based on the above study and a review of the literature, we identify antecedents of the construction of SI-FB on different levels and develop a multilevel model illustrating the forming mechanism of SI-FB；(3) Utilizing tracking survey approach, we test the effects of family business' behavior regarding succession planning on SI-FB；(4) With multi-sourced data, we study the effects of SI-FB on next generation's attitudes and behaviors toward succession. Potential contributions include: a systematic framework based on identity theory to understand the next generation's psychological relation with the family business and its consequence; enrich people's understanding on how nested and interacting social entities influence indindividual identity construction;in practical level, provide guidance for family business owner to influence children's intention and behavior through molding their identity, provide suggestions on how to guide the culture orientation to enhance the next generation's optimal view on taking over family business.

在我国家族企业创业者逐渐衰老、代际传承高峰即将到来之际，如何引导子女对家族企业产生积极的态度、进而产生积极的接班意愿与行为是家族企业实践者和理论研究者面临的重要而紧迫的课题。身份是决定个体意愿、行为的根源性因素。我们推测积极的接班意愿和行为来源于"家族企业子女接班人身份"。课题紧扣家族企业内外部环境特征，充分借鉴多领域的研究成果，运用扎根理论、跟踪式问卷调查、跟踪式案例研究等方法，围绕子女接班人身份来构建子女接班意愿和行为的多层次动态性分析模型，具体内容有：①子女接班人身份的内容结构及其测量；②影响接班人身份形成的关键因素和接班人身份形成机理；③接班人身份干预机制；④接班人身份对子女接班意愿和行为的作用机制。课题将基于身份理论系统揭示子女接班意愿和相关行为的心理根源；提出了"家族企业子女接班人身份"的新构念，将从情境复杂性角度丰富身份理论；将为家族企业主干预子女接班意愿和行为提供实践指导。

顺利传承是家族企业得以延续的关键，但子女接班意愿低正使以内部传承为主的中国家族企业面临后继无人的危机；而愿意接班者中亦不乏对企业投入度低、甚至有损企业利益的偏差行为。本课题基于身份理论探讨了如何预测、培育和干预子女接班意愿及行为的问题。经过理论探索和对现实的洞察，我们首先提出家族企业子女“接班人身份”这一影响子女接班态度和行为的本源因素。接着，课题以处于传承阶段的家族企业为研究对象，采用质性的扎根理论研究法探索出子女接班人身份的内容结构，发现了积极的自我身份、家族成员身份、企业成员身份三个核心维度。在此基础上，我们继续采用案例研究法比较不同家族企业中子女构建身份的过程和活动，形成了四阶段的接班人身份构建过程模型，并为现有文献中关于子女接班意愿影响因素的结论冲突提供了解释。研究发现：子女成功构建接班人身份需要经历早期准备阶段、身份冲突阶段、身份接受阶段和身份提升阶段，各个阶段间的转化均由特定的触发事件引起；个人、家族、企业、社会等层面的静态因素在不同阶段发挥作用。基于对实践细节的深刻认识，我们采用联合分析实验法和跨层次线性模型统计技术验证了传承计划对子女接班意愿的干预效应及其实现条件。结果表明，传承计划的制定和实施可提升子女的接班意愿，特别是针对接班人培训、接班后企业的发展战略的计划。最后，我们基于问卷调查，验证了接班人身份各维度对子女接班意愿和偏差行为的影响及情感承诺、规范承诺在其中的中介效应。研究结果表明，企业成员身份对接班意愿和行为具有最稳定的预测作用；规范承诺对接班意愿的中介效应更显著，而情感承诺对接班行为的中介效应更显著。这意味着情感承诺更能激发出子女接班的深层动机。研究对于家族企业传承研究和身份理论研究做出来贡献，并对家族企业及早培育子女的接班人身份、预测和干预子女的接班意愿和行为以及甄选理想的接班人提供了实践指导。