Kinship heterogeneity and social responsibility performance of family firms: the moderating role of family-based naming

Purpose Drawing upon the perspective of socioemotional wealth (SEW), the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of kinship heterogeneity of family managers on social responsibility performance of family firms, as well as the moderating effect of family-based naming. Design/methodology/approach Using data covering 922 qualified family firms listed on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2010 to 2019, this paper tests hypotheses with multiple regression analysis. Findings The empirical results show that family firms with stronger kinship heterogeneity of family managers exhibit worse social responsibility performance, and family-based naming effectively mitigates the negative relationship. The analysis based on different dimensions of social responsibility performance reveals that compared to other dimensions of social responsibility, the negative impacts of kinship heterogeneity on shareholder responsibility performance and social welfare responsibility performance are more pronounced. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that kinship heterogeneity has a more pronounced negative effect on social responsibility in family firms facing weaker Confucian and clan cultures. Originality/value This study enriches the research on the SEW theory by revealing the mechanism of the impact of kinship heterogeneity on social responsibility performance from the perspective of family-based naming, and exploring the influence of kinship heterogeneity on different dimensions of social responsibility performance. This paper also highlights the importance of family-based naming and the external cultural environment in shaping family managers’ social responsibility strategies.