In the name of family: family control and corporate R&D manipulation

Purpose R&D manipulation is increasingly attracting widespread attention from scholars and practitioners, and there is an urgent need to explore its drivers. Given the prevalence of family businesses worldwide, this paper tries to examine the impact of family control on R&D manipulation. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, we adopt the ordinary least squares regression to explore the impact of family control on R&D manipulation as well as the moderating effects. Findings Leveraging the socioemotional wealth theory, this paper finds that family control could inhibit corporate R&D manipulation behaviour. Furthermore, clan culture could strengthen the inhibiting effect. Besides, compared to restructured family businesses, the inhibiting effect is more pronounced in entrepreneur family businesses. Originality/value This paper examines the factors influencing R&D manipulation from the perspective of corporate ownership forms, which also provides managerial insights to regulate R&D manipulation and achieve sustainable innovation-driven development for Chinese family businesses.