Family and non-family women on the board of directors: Effects on corporate citizenship behavior in family-controlled fashion firms

Abstract

Drawing on self-construal theory and the family business literature, we offer theory and evidence on how the presence of women, either family members or not, on the board of directors of family firms affects firm engagement in corporate citizenship behavior. In examining corporate citizenship behavior, we argue that it is important to distinguish between corporate social responsibility and philanthropy as well as between family and non-family women on the board of directors. Using data from the population of 63 family-controlled firms in the global ranking of the top-100 fashion firms, we find support for our hypotheses: female directors are beneficial for corporate social responsibility engagement only if they are not members of the controlling family, while they are beneficial for philanthropic engagement only if they are members of the controlling family.