Survival Beyond Succession? The Contingent Impact of Founder Succession on Organizational Failure

Previous research on managerial succession in general and founder succession in particular is inconclusive about whether succession harms or helps organizations. In light of the conflicting findings of previous studies, we adopt a contingent approach to this issue. We focus on three factors - the ideological zeal of an organization's founder, the managerial roles played by founders, and organizational affiliations - that we expect to moderate the relationship between founder succession and organizational performance. We analyze failure by magazines founded in the United States from the industry's inception in 1741 to its maturity at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Our analysis shows that ideology is a strong moderator of the relationship between founder succession and organizational failure, and that ideology conditions the impact of managerial roles and organizational affiliations on failure following founder succession.