Legacy Management in Theory and in Practice

Radu-Lefebvre, Miruna and Davis, James H. and De Massis, Alfredo and Gartner, William B. and Jack, Sarah and Markman, Gideon D. (2025) Legacy Management in Theory and in Practice. Academy of Management Perspectives. ISSN 1558-9080

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Abstract

Though often invoked as a source of continuity, identity, and strategy, legacy remains conceptually underdeveloped and practically elusive. Leaders frequently grapple with how to preserve what matters from the past while enabling renewal, especially during succession, pivots, market disruption, or institutional change. Without understanding what legacy is, and how it functions and can be managed, organizations risk clinging to outmoded practices—or, conversely, discarding their most valuable identity anchors. We address this gap by advancing our understanding of legacy as a co-constructed process embedded in relationships, artifacts, and intergenerational meaning-making. Across nine contemporary research examples, we explore how legacy operates at individual, organizational, and societal levels, and how it can serve as an asset, a liability, or a paradox, simultaneously enabling continuity, triggering conflict, and motivating prosocial change. Drawing on diverse theoretical lenses and settings—from family firms in Honduras to multinational corporations in Sweden; from faith-based entrepreneurship to state-owned enterprises in post-Soviet Russia—we show that legacy is a symbolic and material force that influences strategy, innovation, ethics, and governance. Our integrative framework reveals how legacy can be cultivated, reinterpreted, or retired—and how organizations can deliberately manage legacy to foster stewardship, prevent inertia, and build trust among stakeholders.