Family ownership and corporate social responsibility disclosure

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the association between family ownership and the level of CSR disclosure, and to what extent country-level institutional differences and level of industry risk differences influence this association. Using a sample of firms domiciled across 14 European countries for the period from 2010 to 2017, the empirical results show that there is a negative association between family ownership and CSR disclosure. The study also indicates that both institutional environments and the industry risk have influence on the association between family ownership and CSR disclosure. In particular, family-owned firms domiciled in coordinated market economies demonstrate a higher degree of CSR disclosure in comparison to their counterparts operating in liberal market economies. Further, the results show various levels of associations between family ownership and CSR disclosure, as well as social and environmental disclosures, for family-owned firms domiciled in the sub-categories of CMEs. In terms of industry risk, family-owned firms operating in high-risk industries have higher scores of CSR compared to firms in low-risk industries. Moreover, family-owned firms that operate in high-risk industries have higher scores of environmental disclosure, compared to social disclosure, in order to increase their legitimacy on environmental issues.