ABSTRACT

Nigeria’s economy is dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Agriculture, Manufacturing, Commerce, Industry and Services. Despite the active involvements by SMEs in Nigeria economy. High mortality rate among SMEs is a matter of major concern. The main purpose of the study is to determine impact of leadership styles on succession planning in SMEs in Lagos state, Nigeria. The study specifically determined impact of (i) directive, (ii) transformational, (iii) participative and (iv) transactional leadership on succession planning in SMEs.

This study adopted an explanatory research. The population of the study was 11,663 registered SMEs in Lagos state. The study used simple random sampling technique to select the sample size of 387out of the total population of 11,663 registered SMEs in Lagos state. Data obtained were analyzed and presented using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The study comes out with the following findings: (i)(R=0.812, R2=0.659, (0.000)