Between family and sustainability: how family ownership logic configures social and ESG strategies

Purpose This paper examines how family ownership logic shapes social and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategies in family firms. It conceptualises family ownership logic as a purpose-driven and relational configuration combining ownership competences, stakeholder embeddedness and socioemotional as well as reputational commitments and explores how this configuration varies across contrasting institutional contexts. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a sequential mixed-methods design. It combines 18 semi-structured interviews with owners and managers and a survey of 198 family firms (100 in Poland, 98 in Germany) operating in two contrasting institutional settings: a coordinated market economy and a hybrid post-transitional economy. Findings The findings show that family firms differ not only in the intensity of their social or ESG engagement, but more importantly in the configurations through which ownership is enacted. Two dominant patterns emerge: a relational-interventionist logic, rooted in local ties, family identity and informal stakeholder commitments, which is more likely to generate community-oriented and ad hoc social interventions, and a continuity-oriented logic, based on stronger ownership competences, longer planning horizons and greater institutional trust, which is more likely to support formalised CSR and sustainable development strategies. Research limitations/implications The relatively small and non-representative German subsample, together with the cross-sectional design, limits the generalisability of the findings. The study nevertheless suggests that research on family firms, ownership and sustainability should move beyond additive explanations and analyse how configurations of resources, relationships and norms generate different strategic outcomes under different legitimacy and institutional conditions. Practical implications The findings indicate that owner families can strengthen their social and ESG strategies by consciously developing ownership competences through clearer governance arrangements, stronger articulation of purpose and more systematic stakeholder mapping. They also suggest that support mechanisms should be adapted to institutional context: low-bureaucracy, relationship-oriented instruments may be more effective in hybrid settings, whereas more formalised partnership and ESG integration tools are better suited to coordinated market economies. Social implications The study highlights the role of family firms as socially embedded actors whose contributions to communities depend on how family ownership is configured and legitimised. In weaker institutional environments, family firms may act as local stabilisers through informal and relational engagement, while in more institutionalised settings they can become long-term partners in structured sustainability agendas. Originality/value The paper advances family business research by developing a configurational account of family ownership logic that links ownership competences, relational embeddedness and purpose to distinct patterns of social and ESG engagement. It also shows how these configurations vary across different varieties of capitalism, thereby connecting family business research more directly with debates on ownership, legitimacy and sustainability.