Unlocking the influence of unique family firm types on eco-friendly governance and green technology innovation: moderating role of ISO certificates

Guided by agency and socioemotional wealth theory, this study examines the impact of different types of family firms and green technology innovation on eco-friendly governance and the moderating role of ISO certifications. A total of 14,050 firm-year observations comprising A-share firms listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges from 2011 to 2023 were collected from the CSMAR database. Pooled regression was employed for the data analysis, and various robustness tests, including the generalised method of moments, propensity score matching and Tobit regression, were used to check the robustness of the results. Results show that family firm types II and III are more inclined towards eco-friendly governance, while family firm type I demonstrates a positive behaviour towards green technology innovation. Moreover, ISO certifications play a significant moderating role in the nexus amongst family firms (I, II and III), green technology innovation and eco-friendly governance. This novel categorisation of family firms offers significant contributions to the literature, and the heterogeneous behaviour of family firms offers notable insights for policymakers, practitioners and future researchers.