Digital Transformation and Succession Planning Effectiveness in South African Family Enterprises
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21632/Keywords:
Digital Transformation, Succession planning, Family enterprises, Leadership transition, South AfricaAbstract
The study investigates the role of digital transformation in improving the effectiveness of succession planning for South African family businesses. Digital technology is an avenue through which succession planning can be enhanced by improving communication, knowledge transfer, and decision-making. The research was done in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban, using a mixed method. Only primary data was collected from surveys and interviews with 160 respondents, consisting of 40 people from each city. The findings showed a low level of formalization (low level of documenting related processes and actions), although family businesses had confidence in business continuity. Digital transformation was found to have a positive relationship with succession-planning effectiveness, especially in the areas of communication and training. The conclusion was that digital transformation creates greater efficiencies in succession planning; however, it does not address all aspects of governance or family issues. It recommended formalizing succession plans, ensuring regular review, and strengthening digital capacity alongside effective governance structures.
References
Adekomaya, V. O., & Schachtebeck, C. (2025). Assessing the impact of succession planning on the sustainability of family enterprises: A case study in South African family businesses. Acta Commercii-Independent Research Journal in the Management Sciences, 25(1), 1464. https://doi.org/10.4102/ac.v25i1.1464
Acquaah, M. (2020). Social networking relationships, firm-specific managerial experience, and firm performance in family businesses in Africa. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 11(4), 100379. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.1973
Alojail, M., & Khan, S. B. (2023). Impact of digital transformation toward sustainable development. Sustainability, 15(20), 14697. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014697
Cabrera-Suárez, K., De Saá-Pérez, P., & García-Almeida, D. (2018). The succession process from a resource- and knowledge-based view of the family firm. Family Business Review, 31(1), 74–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6248.2001.00037.x
Chavarnakul, T., Xu, L. D., Bi, Z., Shankar, A., Dhiman, G., Viriyasitavat, W., & Hoonsopon, D. (2025). A Systematic Literature Review on Resilient Digital Transformation, Examining How Organizations Sustain Digital Capabilities. HighTech and Innovation Journal, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.28991/hij-2025-06-02-021
Chrisman, J. J., Chua, J. H., & Sharma, P. (2018). Trends and directions in the development of a strategic management theory of the family firm. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(1), 10–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00098.x
De Massis, A., Frattini, F., & Wright, M. (2018). Innovation through tradition: Lessons from innovative family businesses and directions for future research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(1), 93–116. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2015.0017
Dyer, W. G., Nenque, E., & Hill, E. (2019). Toward a theory of family capital and entrepreneurship: Antecedents and outcomes. Journal of Small Business Management, 57(4), 1527–1549. E. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12097
Giacomin, V., & Jones, G. (2022). Drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets: Family, values and spirituality. Journal of Business Ethics, 180(1), 263-282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04875-4
George, G., & Schillebeeckx, S. J. (2022). Digital transformation, sustainability, and purpose in the multinational enterprise. Journal of World Business, 57(3), 101326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2022.101326
Kammerlander, N., & Ganter, M. (2019). An attention-based view of family firm adaptation to discontinuous technological change. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 36(3), 327–347 https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12205
Kammerlander, N., & Ganter, M. (2020). An attention-based view of family firm adaptation to digital transformation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 37(6), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12205
Kraus, S., Palmer, C., Kailer, N., Kallinger, F. L., & Spitzer, J. (2021). Digital transformation in SMEs: A systematic literature review. Journal of Business Research, 123, 870–878. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr-06-2018-0425
Le Breton-Miller, I., & Miller, D. (2018). Looking back at and forward from: A review of family business research. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 9(4), 193–205.
Leão, P., & da Silva, M. M. (2021). Impacts of digital transformation on firms' competitive advantages: A systematic literature review. Strategic Change, 30(5), 421-441. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2459
Michel, A., & Kammerlander, N. (2019). Trusted advisors in a family business’s succession planning process. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 10(2), 100–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.10.005
Miller, D., & Le Breton-Miller, I. (2020). Family firms and their governance: An overview and research agenda. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44(6), 1079–1099. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258717748650
Mohamed Hashim, M. A., Tlemsani, I., & Duncan Matthews, R. (2022). A sustainable university: Digital transformation and beyond. Education and Information Technologies, 27(7), 8961-8996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-10968-y
Mohamed Hashim, M. A., Tlemsani, I., & Matthews, R. (2022). Higher education strategy in digital transformation. Education and information technologies, 27(3), 3171-3195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10739-1
Nambisan, S., Wright, M., & Feldman, M. (2019). The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes. Research Policy, 48(8), 103773 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.03.018
Nordqvist, M., Wennberg, K., Bau, M., & Hellerstedt, K. (2020). An entrepreneurial process perspective on succession in family firms. Small Business Economics, 54(2), 487–502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-012-9466-4
Nyiawung, J. (2021). The interactions of a Chinese MNE with local institutions in sub-Sahara Africa and the implications for workforce management in the subsidiary. Africa Journal of Management, 7(4), 489-508. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322373.2021.1934800
Philbin, S., Viswanathan, R., & Telukdarie, A. (2022). Understanding how digital transformation can enable SMEs to achieve sustainable development: A systematic literature review
https://doi.org/10.26784/sbir.v6i1.473
Schiuma, G., Schettini, E., Santarsiero, F., & Carlucci, D. (2022). The transformative leadership compass: six competencies for digital transformation entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 28(5), 1273-1291. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijebr-01-2021-0087
Soluk, J., Kammerlander, N., & De Massis, A. (2021). Exogenous shocks and the adaptive capacity of family firms: Exploring behavioral changes and digital transformation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 38(1), 135–157. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.1247
Tien, N. H. (2021). Vietnamese family business in Vietnam and in Poland: comparative analysis of trends and characteristics. International journal of entrepreneurship and small business, 42(3), 282-299. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijesb.2021.113202
Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Dong, J., Fabian, N., & Haenlein, M. (2021). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, 889–901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.022
Vial, G. (2019). Understanding digital transformation: A review and research agenda. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(2), 118–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2019.01.003
Xue, F., Zhao, X., & Tan, Y. (2022). Digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises: an empirical study on the relationships between digital transformation, boundary spanning, and sustainable competitive advantage. Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, 2022(1), https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4104314
Urban, B., & Nonkwelo, R. P. (2022). Intra-family dynamics and succession planning in family businesses in South Africa: the daughter as a potential successor. Journal of Family Business Management, 12(2), 266-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfbm-08-2020-0084
Warner, K. S. R., & Wäger, M. (2019). Building dynamic capabilities for digital transformation: An ongoing process of strategic renewal. Long Range Planning, 52(3), 326–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2018.12.001
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Victoria O. Adekomaya (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Journal Author(s) Rights
For IRJBS to publish and disseminate research articles, we need publishing rights (transferred from the author(s) to the publisher). This is determined by a publishing agreement between the Author(s) and IRJBS. This agreement deals with the transfer or license of the copyright of publishing to IRJBS, while Authors still retain significant rights to use and share their own published articles. IRJBS supports the need for authors to share, disseminate and maximize the impact of their research and these rights, in any databases.
As a journal Author, you have rights to many uses of your article, including use by your employing institute or company. These Author rights can be exercised without the need to obtain specific permission. Authors publishing in IRJBS journals have comprehensive rights to use their works for teaching and scholarly purposes without needing to seek permission, including:
- use for classroom teaching by Author or Author's institution and presentation at a meeting or conference and distributing copies to attendees;
- use for internal training by the author's company;
- distribution to colleagues for their research use;
- use in a subsequent compilation of the author's works;
- inclusion in a thesis or dissertation;
- reuse of portions or extracts from the article in other works (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
- preparation of derivative works (other than commercial purposes) (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
- voluntary posting on open websites operated by the author or the author’s institution for scholarly purposes,
(But it should follow the open access license of Creative Common CC-by-SA License).
Authors/Readers/Third Parties can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. Still, they must give appropriate credit (the name of the creator and attribution parties (authors' detail information), a copyright notice, an open access license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made (Publisher indicates the modification of the material (if any) and retain an indication of previous modifications.
Authors/Readers/Third Parties can read, print and download, redistribute or republish the article (e.g. display in a repository), translate the article, download for text and data mining purposes, reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works, sell or re-use for commercial purposes, remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
