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With the progression of sustainable development goals, ESG performance of family firms has attracted scholarly attention. However, existing research seldom explores the influence of internal family governance structures on corporate ESG performance. Using data from A-share listed Chinese family firms (2010-2023), this study finds that narrower spousal status gaps are associated with stronger ESG performance, with R&D investment serving as a partial mediator. Moreover, board size mitigates the adverse effects, while the moderating role of independent director proportion is more pronounced when the gap is smaller. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect is more significant in small-scale enterprises. These findings enrich ESG literature, and offer practical implications for governance optimization in family firms.

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Spousal Status Gap and ESG: Evidence from Chinese Family Firms

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Yingkai Tang,
  • Jiayi Yin,
  • Peiyan Xie,
  • Yunyi Wang,
  • Lin Wang

摘要

With the progression of sustainable development goals, ESG performance of family firms has attracted scholarly attention. However, existing research seldom explores the influence of internal family governance structures on corporate ESG performance. Using data from A-share listed Chinese family firms (2010-2023), this study finds that narrower spousal status gaps are associated with stronger ESG performance, with R&D investment serving as a partial mediator. Moreover, board size mitigates the adverse effects, while the moderating role of independent director proportion is more pronounced when the gap is smaller. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect is more significant in small-scale enterprises. These findings enrich ESG literature, and offer practical implications for governance optimization in family firms.