This study explores the internal and external environmental characteristics of private family companies associated with succession decision-making outcomes (i.e. the propensity of family firms to report whether the board has established clear-cut objective criteria, specifying when the current Chief Executive Officer [CEO] should retire; whether the CEO has a successor in mind; and whether a succession plan has been approved by family members). Multivariate logistic regression analysis detected that the life cycle dynamics of the CEO and family dynamics were associated with the selected outcomes. The presence of a non-executive director was found to be positively associated with selected outcomes. Business performance was found to be positively associated with two outcomes, but negatively associated with another. External environmental conditions were associated with the dependent variables. In addition, results were found to be sensitive to the employment size of the company. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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