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This paper aims to raise the level of awareness of the critical need to have a chief executive succession plan in nonprofit organizations.

This paper uses a review of survey literature to determine the degree to which nonprofits plan for chief executive succession.

The findings reveal a serious lack of planning for successors in nonprofit organizations.

This paper underscores the need for a three-pronged approach by nonprofit boards of directors, chief executive officers, and HR departments to address planning for successors to prevent potential chaotic organizational situations and create sustainable nonprofits.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of five leadership succession themes by executives of Estonian nonprofit organizations.

This is a qualitative study that uses narrative inquiry and purposive sampling. Face-to-face and Skype interviews were conducted with 15 executives.

Succession was unplanned in most of the Estonian nonprofits; successors were coached during initial transitionary periods; insiders were preferred to outsiders; requirements of executive positions were unmet because of a talent shortfall; lack of trust, unexpected behavior, and possible ethical issues were key risk factors associated with succession; and mixed opinions were received regarding the advantages and disadvantages of succession planning.

Narrow focus on Estonian nonprofit organizations and their executives, purposive sampling, and single qualitative research method. Results may not be applicable to other nonprofits.

Practitioners of Estonian nonprofits can better understand the implications of executive succession issues. Lessons learned may help other nonprofit leaders.

Having a carefully crafted succession plan can enable smoother transitions between organizational leaders and create organizational stability, thereby ensuring a continuous delivery of goods and services to clients.

Seminal research – this is the first study of its kind on Estonian nonprofit organizations and executive succession issues. This paper can serve as a foundation for further research on Eastern European nonprofits.

Despite the extensive breadth of research into the critical challenge of succession in family business, generational succession in family business has been investigated from predominately one-dimensional perspective. The purpose of this paper is to respond to call for a multi-perspectives examination of leadership succession in order to embrace the dynamic and complex nature of succession in a family business. Accordingly, the authors investigated the key personal and professional factors associated with effective family-business succession across four key stakeholders: incumbent, successor, family, and nonfamily members.

The explanatory research design included 16 interviews in Phase 1 and 41 prospective case study interviews in Phase 2, both with Australian family businesses that had or were about to experience generational transition.

Incumbents and successor interview findings support the benefits of maintaining a cohesive family business, adaptable family culture, and familiness for effective succession. The authors also identified several personal components (e.g. family-business socialization and external experiences) that can help determine the commitment of successors and how this commitment can change once they assume a leadership position. Business size was the professional component supported by incumbent, successor, and nonfamily members as having a significant impact on succession process. As family business grows and becomes more highly complex, a clearly defined set of procedures become imperative.

Family-business practitioners can apply the findings to manage the processes and expectations of family and the business to achieve effective generational succession and thereby increase the sustainability of the business.

This research provides a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the interdependencies of competing priorities in the complex succession process that is essential for family-business sustainability and performance.

The aim of this article was to describe successor types of four nonprofit founders.

This article uses the previous case study research and participant/nonparticipant observation to illustrate the different nonprofit founder types to prepare for successors.

Four founder types included destroyer, conscientious, maverick, and controller. Each founder type had several unique characteristics. A common feature across all four types was autocratic control.

Limitations include the generalizability of the findings based on the sample. Recommendations include re-examination of the ways founders approach succession issues.

Founders involved in succession issues can benefit by better understanding the succession process as well as the legacy they leave as a result of their approach to succession based on type.

This article offers new insights into the approaches nonprofit founders take about selecting a successor. Founders considering a successor can determine their type and adjust accordingly to select the best possible replacement for the organization.

Professionals of human resources (HR) use different criteria in practice than they verbalize. Thus, the aim of this research was to identify the implicit criteria used for the selection of high-potential employees in recruitment and development settings in the pharmaceutical industry.

A semi-structured interview guide was developed and used to collect data from 15 European and US recruiters in the pharmaceutical sector. The interview guide included an embedded association test to identify potential differences between implicit assumptions about high potentials and verbalized criteria among participants.

These include differences and similarities between the criteria to define high potentials and the implicit assumptions HR professionals use in their initial selection of employees who are selected for further assessment and development programmes.

Size of the sample is a limitation. Therefore, the conclusions drawn from this study should be treated with a degree of caution.

Learning how HR professionals use implicit assumptions about potential recruits should inform practitioners about selection, promotion and training strategies. Given the increasing application of automated search algorithms to identify and select high potentials for recruitment, development and promotion purposes, future studies should account for the differences between used and verbalized criteria underlying the development of these systems.

This study shows how the used implicit assumptions of HR professionals about high potentials differ from verbalized statements and guidelines.

Examines the issue of leadership succession in a non‐profit organization founded 24 years ago by a charismatic leader. Based on a study of organizational leadership, a model of succession was developed. Discusses the selection process based on factors such as longevity, specialized competences and loyalty. Considers implications for leadership.

Presents findings of a recent survey conducted on small to mid‐sized nonprofit organizations about the types of leadership development initiatives they offer employees.

Survey and interview methods used to collect data from nonprofit executive directors who participated in this study.

Most survey participants do not have the financial and other organizational capacities to offer leadership development initiatives to employees. In‐service workshops are the most frequent type of initiative and unfortunately often this learning initiative has a low impact given its limited short‐term exposure to participants. Other leadership development initiatives may be more beneficial to employees in terms of their long‐term impact.

Provides recommendations for small to mid‐sized nonprofit executive directors about ways to fund leadership development initiatives.

Offers nonprofit executive directors with suggestions about not investing in leadership development initiatives.

The aim of this article was to emphasize that board member failure to develop a succession plan places the organization in a precarious status quo mode, and thereby to help educate executive directors and board members about the need for an executive succession plan.

Case study methods were used to collect data presented in the case narrative.

The results of the authors' case study suggest that organizations that do not plan for executive succession events jeopardize their ability to pursue new opportunities.

Generalizability of a single case study may be a research concern despite its in‐depth investigation, analysis, and findings.

Executive directors and board members must recognize the importance of an executive succession plan to ensure smooth transition from one executive to another.

In these complex times it is a strategic imperative that organizations are ready to address issues of uncertainty. An executive succession plan can help ensure organizational responses to changing internal and external environmental conditions.