Couples’ Joint Holding and Total Factor Productivity of Family Firms: Evidence from China

Improving total factor productivity is the power source of high-quality development in emerging economies. Family firm in emerging countries represented by China is an important part of economy, it is of great significance to explore the influencing factors of TFP of family firms. This paper takes the family firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets of China from 2012 to 2022 as the research samples, and explores the influence of couples’ joint holding on the total factor productivity of firms. The results show that: (1) There is significant negative influence of couples’ joint holding on the total factor productivity of firms; (2) The differences in educational level between husband and wife can strengthen the negative influence of couples’ joint holding on the total factor productivity of firms; (3) The existence of institutional investors can effectively participate in corporate governance, play a supervisory role, and weaken the negative influence of couples’ joint holding on the total factor productivity of firms. This research can shed light on further TFP improvement and high-quality economic development for emerging countries that are under economic transformation.