Sustainability Reporting in Family Firms: A Panel Data Analysis

• Main Authors: Giovanna Gavana, Pietro Gottardo, Anna Maria Moisello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-12-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sustainability reporting; family firms; legitimacy; stakeholders; socioemotional wealth; Global Reporting Initiative
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/1/38

We analyze the largely unexplored differences in sustainability reporting within family businesses using a sample of 230 non-financial Italian listed firms for the period 2004–2013. Drawing on legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory, integrated with the socio-emotional wealth (SEW) approach, we study how family control, influence and identification shape a firm’s attitude towards disclosing its social and environmental behavior. Our results suggest that family firms are more sensitive to media exposure than their non-family counterparts and that family control enhances sustainability disclosure when it is associated to a family’s direct influence on the business, by the founder’s presence on the board or by having a family CEO. In cases of indirect influence, without family involvement on the board, the level of family ownership is negatively related to sustainability reporting. On the other hand, a formal identification of the family with the firm by business name does not significantly affect social disclosure.