Abstract
Externally led successions in family firms are increasingly common, yet understudied. While most research assumes kinship continuity, many legacy firms appoint non-family successors, raising questions about trust, legitimacy, and cultural fit. This paper reframes succession as a socially embedded process shaped by ecosystem dynamics and symbolic negotiation. Based on 28 interviews across nine Gioia-coded German Mittelstand cases, we uncover four dimensions of external succession: emotional complexity, insider–outsider trust building, narrative misalignment, and governance role design. From these, five core insights emerge on how legitimacy is co-constructed in the absence of kinship ties. We contribute to theory by linking succession, identity, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Practically, we show how structured onboarding, ecosystem scaffolding, and narrative integration enable external leaders to regenerate legacy firms. Succession, we argue, is not an end in itself, but a transformative act of entrepreneurship.