Family business goals, corporate citizenship behaviour and firm performance: disentangling the connections

Abstract

Prior research has suggested that family businesses may have a higher proclivity to behave as good corporate citizens, as compared with non-family firms, which may impact financial performance. However, while this idea is intuitively appealing, the actual antecedents of corporate citizenship behaviour in the family firm context have not yet been assessed systematically. In addition, empirical evidence regarding the impact of citizenship behaviour on firm performance remains inconclusive. Drawing from the literature on family business goals and corporate citizenship, our conceptual framework proposes that family-centred and business-centred goals act as determinants of family firm citizenship, but each with a different impact. Furthermore, we argue that family firm reputation partially mediates the relationship between family firm citizenship behaviour and family firm performance. We discuss implications for family business research and practice and offer suggestions for future studies.