Family business succession and strategic CSR disclosure behaviour

This study examines the impact of family business succession (FBS) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure within family firms, with a specific focus on changes in the linguistic characteristics of CSR reports during the succession process. We find that upon the succession of the second generation, family businesses may adopt a proactive yet deliberately ambiguous CSR disclosure strategy to mitigate pressures arising from internal transformation and the external environment. This strategy is characterized by CSR reports that convey positive signals but exhibit reduced readability. Our findings contribute to the literature on both FBS and CSR disclosure and offer theoretical insights for enhancing the quality of CSR information.