We study private equity as a succession route in family firms. Using survey data from Germany, we empirically examine the role owner-managers and their network ties play in the early process of firm succession. Our evidence suggests that network ties, strong ties in particular, matter to owner-managers when they consider a sale to private equity. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior, we find that subjective norms and attitude explain the intention to sell to private equity investors, while entrepreneurial network ties explain the subjective norm component. We further show that subjective norm mediates the relationship of network ties on intention.

中文翻译：

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家族企业中的家族退出：网络联系如何影响所有者遵循私募股权继承路线的意图

我们研究私募股权作为家族企业的继任途径。使用来自德国的调查数据，我们以实证的方式研究了所有者-经理及其网络联系在公司继任初期的作用。我们的证据表明，当所有者-经理考虑出售给私募股权时，它们之间的关系尤其对牢固的关系很重要。应用计划行为理论，我们发现主观规范和态度解释了向私募股权投资者出售的意图，而企业家网络联系则解释了主观规范的组成部分。我们进一步表明，主观规范介导了网络联系与意图之间的关系。