The impact of family firm social responsibility on green innovation from a strategic perspective

Drawing on the optimal distinctiveness theory and utilizing a sample of Chinese family listed firms spanning the period from 2009 to 2024, this study examined the impact of strategic corporate social responsibility on green innovation in family businesses. We found that, firstly, the implementation of strategic corporate social responsibility by family businesses is conducive to the development of green innovation. Secondly, policy-oriented and market-oriented media attention both strengthens the positive relationship between strategic CSR and family businesses’ green innovation under institutional legitimacy pressures, with policy-oriented media attention having a stronger moderating effect. Thirdly, mechanism tests reveal that strategic CSR promotes the green innovation development of family firms mainly by ‘external information transmission’ to obtain more external financing support, and by ‘strengthening internal governance’ to alleviate principal-agent problems and improve internal control levels. In addition, cross-sectional heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of strategic corporate social responsibility on green innovation is more significant in the stage of non-intergenerational succession, the manufacturing industry, and regions with a high degree of marketization. These findings provide implications for family businesses on how to seize development opportunities and successfully achieve green transformation and upgrading.