Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' motivations to join the family business

•We examine adolescents' succession motivations in family firms.•Parental career-specific behaviors impact adolescent's succession planning.•Parental relational support predicts adolescent's autonomous succession motivation.•Parental control relates to adolescent's introjected succession motivation.•Autonomous motivation relates positively to offspring's succession likelihood.

This study investigates the career development of adolescents with a family business background through a motivational lens. Drawing on self-determination theory, antecedents and consequences of three succession motivations (autonomous, e.g., career interest; introjected, e.g., family obligation; external, e.g., job opportunities) were analyzed in a sample of 152 adolescents in family firms. Structural equation modeling revealed that parental relational support and adolescent's perceived entrepreneurial competence predicted autonomous motivation, whereas parental control related to introjected motivation. Moreover, autonomous motivation related positively to offspring's succession likelihood. Findings point to the relevance of parental career-specific behaviors in the early process of career and succession planning in family firms.