Exploring the moderating effect of family CEO on the association between family ownership and firm value: An empirical analysis of top Indian family firms

Abstract

We study 288 family firms included in the NSE CNX 500 index of the National Stock Exchange of India. We find an entrenchment-alignment-entrenchment relationship between family ownership and firm value. We show that family CEO has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between family ownership and firm value. When the interaction effect of Family CEO on family ownership is controlled, only family shareholding in the alignment range is found to be statistically significant. The study shows that family firms with family CEO suffer from a decrease in market valuation. This finding is extremely valuable given the fact that India is dominated by family firms and majority of family firms appoint a family member as CEO.