An intergenerational perspective on routine role succession in organizations
In this dissertation I apply an intergenerational perspective to examine succession at all levels of organizations. This perspective suggests that for every organizational role, there are three critical actors: the incumbent, the predecessor, and the successor. Each of these individuals represents a generation in that they will occupy the same role at different intervals for a finite period of time, eventually being replaced by the next generation. The predecessor may be viewed as the past generation, the incumbent as the current generation, and the successor as the future generation. These generations are linked not only through their shared association with the particular role, but also through the knowledge, skills, and resources that they can potentially transfer to the next generation. I draw from literatures in imprinting, engagement, and temporal focus to better understand the process of routine role succession. While separately these theories provide different views related to role succession, taken together they draw attention to components of role succession that have not received attention to date.
Role Succession, Generations, Imprint, Knowledge Transfer
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign