RT Article
T1 Family Firms’ Corporate Social Performance: A Calculated Quest for Socioemotional Wealth
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 148
IS 3
SP 511
OP 525
A1 Labelle, Réal
A1 Hafsi, Taïeb
A1 Francoeur, Claude
A1 Ben Amar, Walid
A2 Hafsi, Taïeb
A2 Francoeur, Claude
A2 Ben Amar, Walid
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/178566400X
AB This study investigates the engagement of family firms in corporate social responsibility. We first compare their corporate social performance (CSP) to non-family firms. Then, following recent evidence on the heterogeneity of family firms, we examine two factors that may influence CSP within family firms: the level of family control and the governance orientation of the country in which they operate. This research is based on a theoretical framework which considers both agency and socioemotional wealth (SEW) influences on family firms CSR engagements. Overall, we find that family firms exhibit lower CSP than non-family firms. But when focusing on family firms, our analyses show a curvilinear relationship between family control and CSP. At lower levels of control, family owners invest more in social initiatives to protect their SEW. Beyond a threshold level of control that we estimate at 36 % in our sample, economic considerations prevail over SEW and social performance starts decreasing. We also find that family firms operating in stakeholder-oriented countries are more attentive to social concerns than those operating in more shareholder-oriented countries.
K1 Agency conflicts
K1 Socioemotional wealth
K1 Stakeholder Management
K1 Corporate Social Responsibility
K1 Family firms
DO 10.1007/s10551-015-2982-9