Risk or Reward? Assessing the Market Value Implications of CSR Disclosure and Family Ownership

This study investigates whether Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) serves as a risk-mitigating or cost-inducing signal for firms’ market value in an emerging market. Utilising a panel dataset of 120 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (2015–2023) and employing content analysis alongside panel regression and System GMM models, we find that disclosure quality in social, employee, and environmental dimensions is positively associated with market value, while customer-related disclosure is not. The role of family ownership is nuanced: baseline specifications suggest no broad moderating influence, yet robust dynamic modelling reveals that family ownership significantly enhances the positive market valuation of environmental disclosure. The primary contribution is a nuanced, dimension-specific analysis of CSRD’s value relevance, challenging blanket assumptions about family firm behaviour and offering granular, methodologically informed insights for stakeholders in institutionally complex environments.