Succession planning and its effects on employee career attitudes: Study of Iranian governmental organizations

This paper evaluates effects of succession planning as an organizational level intervening program on career attitudes as individual level variables. Best practices of succession planning are selected from literature and compliance of succession planning system of organization to these practices is defined as extensiveness of succession planning. A 22-item questionnaire was developed to measure the extensiveness of succession planning. Validity and reliability of questionnaire are confirmed by appropriate tests. For career attitudes, 3 variables of promotion satisfaction, perception of career success, and perception of job platitude selected. Then the correlation of the succession planning extensiveness and three career attitudes examined by empirical data gathered from 152 managers and key personnel in 23 large Iranian governmental organizations. Significant correlation exists between succession planning extensiveness and career success and satisfaction of promotion process. Perception of job plateau does not show correlation with succession planning extensiveness. This paper recognized best practices that should be considered for design of succession planning. Also the scale for measuring succession planning extensiveness developed. It can be used to gain a better understanding of status quo of succession planning in organizations and gap analysis which is generally one of the early stages of every organizational development project. The literature of succession planning was enriched by studying the effect of succession planning on individual level variables.