Does corporate social responsibility help the longevity of centenarian family firms in Europe?

Abstract

Using a sample of 21 centenarian family firms from European countries over the 2008-2020 study period, we verify if corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement can help the longevity of the centenarian family firms. In particular, consistent with the stakeholder theory and resource-based view, we find that the corporate social performance (CSP) has a positive impact on the corporate financial performance of family firms, even during a period affected by international financial crisis that stressed the survival of firms. Hence, based on the concept of CSR as a co-specialized asset that improves other assets, such as resilience, corporate identity, reputation and stakeholder influence capability, our results show that CSR engagement represents a key to longevity and a solution to the potential trade-off between the socioemotional wealth and the financial performance of centenarian family firms