Leadership succession is a critical organizational process, yet little is known about how followers come to endorse successors (or not) and what role predecessors play in this process. Through a leader gender lens, we investigate the interplay between transference mechanisms, implicit leadership theories (ILTs) and prototype matching in shaping followers’ endorsement of successors. We propose that perceptions related to the gender of the predecessor transfer to followers’ ILTs, such that different ILT dimensions are more or less pronounced depending on whether the predecessor was male or female. Further, we propose that followers match these ILTs with the gender of the successor, impacting endorsement. We tested our hypotheses in two studies: a recall survey capturing respondents’ succession experiences and a scenario experiment manipulating predecessor and successor gender. Results reveal that predecessor gender significantly impacts gendered dimensions of followers’ ILTs, which in turn both directly affect successor endorsement and interact with successor gender to affect successor endorsement. Our findings indicate that during leadership succession ILTs may serve as behavioral expectations regarding the successor and that ILTs are strongly affected by prior leaders. To conclude, this research extends and complements transference theory, offers new insights into the gendered dynamics of ILTs, and informs strategies for addressing biases in leadership transitions.
