Decision-making in the selection processes of managerial successors in business families and its influence with the use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI: a systematic review of the literature

Purpose To describe how decision-making in the selection processes of managerial successors in business families is influenced by the use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI. Design/methodology/approach Systematic literature review of 65 articles indexed in Scopus and in the main specialized journals on family businesses. Findings The integration of AI and algorithms, specifically in selection procedures, raises major questions and faces legal and ethical issues that affect employee performance, moral commitment and fairness in the processes. These aspects are important to ensure transparency, fairness and accountability as they provide insight into the practices of business families and how succession challenges such as the possibility of using signaling games and addressing gender biases and information asymmetries that have been reported in past research could be complemented by these actions. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this research are mainly attributed to the exclusive use of a single database (Scopus), which could limit access to relevant literature; Furthermore, the exclusion of certain articles, despite focusing on prestigious journals on business families, may have overlooked relevant contributions; Furthermore, the 20-year scope of the literature review that ended in February and August 2024 omits subsequent publications that could have enriched the findings of this study. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to conduct a bibliometric analysis covering the line of successor selection and the process leveraged by new practices such as AI, an aspect that has been little addressed in the literature. In addition, this work traces aspects of decision-making that may affect selection. The research is of great value since it allows to illustrate in a consistent way the relationship between the selection of executive successors and how it is affected by the different decision-making processes in families, which allows to identify research gaps and make strategic decisions regarding the management of successions in BFs. Furthermore, this research provides a framework for future research in this area.