Although much attention has been paid to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences that an individual brings when he or she transitions into an organizational role, little attention has been given to the history of the enactment of the role into which he or she is transitioning. This article examines how the behaviors of a predecessor influence the expectations for the successor, the successor’s role behaviors, and the evaluations made of the successor. A new construct, role residual, is introduced as a conceptual link between the behaviors of the predecessor and the behaviors and evaluations of the successor. A role residual is the set of expectations held by a role sender, associated with a position in an organization, which is left behind by a predecessor. A model of the antecedents and outcomes of role residual is presented and implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
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