Abstract
Building on a socio-emotional wealth lens and gender role theory, we examine gender inequality between siblings in the appointment to the CEO position in family businesses. We also study the impact on firm performance of the appointment of a daughter or a son when they take over the CEO position. Our empirical findings support the argument that daughters are less likely than sons to be appointed to the CEO position. However, this effect is weaker in family firms where the mother holds the CEO position. The difference-in-difference approach shows that family firms where a daughter takes over as CEO outperform family firms where a son takes over. Our findings reveal an important but hitherto not studied gendered dimension of the succession in family firms—sons are favored, but daughters do better. This way our study offers a more nuanced view of the implications of within family CEO succession in family businesses which is important for both research and practice.