She is the Founder: Who is the Emotional Leader?

In FB research some studies have investigated the position of women involved as successors in the succession process, but very few studies have analysed women as incumbents. Until a few years ago, this issue would have been considered of little importance, given the very small number of women-owned businesses involved in a succession process. However, the increasing quantity of female firms raises questions about the specificities of a succession process from mother to son. This kind of process could indeed be a recurring one in the coming years. Apart from a few exceptions, in analyses of the succession process, women have often been described as mediators between family members, patient wives, mothers responsible for bringing up the future heir, or women living in the shadow of their husbands, fathers, sons, or brothers. An important role in transmitting family and business values to the children has been recognised by women. Women in this role have been defined as "chief emotional officer" (Jimenez, 2009), being that they hold the emotional leadership of the FB. But what happens when a woman, especially a mother, is the main actor of the succession process? Can she also act as emotional leader? Which behaviours reveal that she is acting as an emotional leader? And how does this role affect the outcome of the succession process? To answer these research questions, this paper presents an eight-year longitudinal case study (Yin, 2013). The main character is a woman who founded and ran a business and recently passed the leadership to her son. Results show that even if she was the founder, owner and leader of the business, she never lost her role as emotional leader. This behaviour has proven to be very beneficial for the succession process and business survival.