The role of corporate philanthropy in family firm succession: A social outreach perspective

Board gender diversity and environmental, social, and economic value creation: Does family ownership matter?

“…The value creation preference of family owners can have a greater effect on the family's legitimacy and reputation (Seaman, ), especially where the community within which the family lives attaches greater legitimacy to a group of stakeholders. Thus, despite the importance of other value creation activities, family owners are likely to focus on those that offer greater visibility due to their potential to benefit family's reputation and enhancement of their social image (Pan, Weng, Xu, & Chan, ). As for female directors in family firms, the influence of founding families or their association thereof may cause them to behave differently from those in nonfamily firms (Campopiano, Rinaldi, Sciascia, & De Massis, ).…”

Family and non-family women on the board of directors: Effects on corporate citizenship behavior in family-controlled fashion firms

“…Philanthropy does not usually relate to core business activities (Porter and Kramer, 2002), and is therefore more likely to benefit the family's reputation, especially within the community where the family business is embedded, ensuring the visibility, social image, and social network of family members (e.g., Pan et al, 2018). CSR engagement, instead, often implies implementing social initiatives in line with core business activities, therefore mostly benefitting the business' reputation and its legitimacy in the eyes of various stakeholders (e.g., Block and Wagner, 2014).…”

“…On the other hand, when considering philanthropy, the implications of interdependent self-construal are combined with the quest for building and maintaining a positive family reputation, thus leading female directors who are members of the controlling family to engage in such initiatives. Philanthropic initiatives are not aimed at strategically investing in business-related activities (usually along the supply chain, such as a green certification), but refer to donations to often unrelated stakeholders, increasing the visibility of the family and its members (Pan et al, 2018). The nurturing traits of women, which self-construal theory considers central to the way they relate to close others (Cross and Madson, 1997), are reflected in the family's reputational concerns, ultimately leading to positive philanthropic engagement.…”

Paving the way for children: Family firm succession and corporate philanthropy in China

“…Two‐thirds of all the charitable donations in China in 2010 came from corporations and 57% of corporate donations were made by private and family firms, compared with only 5% of donations in the US being made by companies (The Conference Board, 2012). Prior studies examine the reasons for this, which include building political connections (Lin et al., ), accessing bank loans (Bai, Lu, & Tao, ; Chen, Jiang, & Yu, ; Ye & Zhang, ), fulfilling religious beliefs (Du, Jian, Du, Feng, & Zeng, ), disguising environmental misconduct (Du, ), signaling governance quality (Chen, Dong, Tong, & Zhang, ), and satisfying stakeholders (Pan, Weng, Xu, & Chan, ; Wang & Qian, ). Our study shows that succession could motivate family firms to invest in corporate donations.…”

“…In a concurrent study, Pan et al. () show that CEO turnover in family firms in China is related to more philanthropic donations, particularly if the new CEO is from the second generation of the family. Their evidence supports our argument that internal succession motivates family firms to engage in corporate philanthropy.…”