Does Family Involvement Make Firms Donate More? Empirical Evidence From Chinese Private Firms. (September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dou, Junsheng; Zhang, Zhongyuan; Su, Emma
• Other Names: Craig Justin B. guest-editor.; Dibrell Clay guest-editor.; Neubaum Donald O. guest-editor.; Van Gils Anita guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Family business review. Volume 27:Number 3(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 259
• Page End: 274
• Publication Date: 2014-09
• Subjects: family involvement -- socioemotional wealth -- corporate charitable donations -- Chinese private firm; Family-owned business enterprises -- United States -- Periodicals; Home labor -- United States -- Periodicals; Small business -- United States -- Periodicals; New business enterprises -- United States -- Periodicals; 658.045
• DOI: 10.1177/0894486514538449
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-4865

Abstract

This article follows recent development on the socioemotional wealth perspective to examine the impact of family involvement on corporate charitable donations. Based on data collected from 2, 821 Chinese private firms, we find that (a) family ownership and the duration of family control positively affect charitable donations and (b) when the next generation is unwilling to take over the business, the positive relationship between family ownership and charitable donations becomes weaker. These findings show that firms' proactive stakeholder engagement is susceptible to family involvement. They also highlight the possible existence of the "dark" effect of certain socioemotional wealth dimensions on firms' proactive stakeholder engagement.