The Green Blueprint: Founder Clan Culture Imprints and Green Innovation in Chinese Family Firms

Feifei Lu, Zixuan Zang, Khalid Mehmood (khalid@hbeu.edu.cn), Usman Ghani and Shuya Rao
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Feifei Lu: SILC Business School, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Zixuan Zang: SILC Business School, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Khalid Mehmood: Research Center of Hubei Micro & Small Enterprises Development, School of Economics and Management, Hubei Engineering University, Xiaogan 432000, China
Usman Ghani: School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Shuya Rao: School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Drawing on upper-echelon, imprinting, and agency theories, this paper investigates the influence of founder CEOs’ clan cultural values on family firms’ green innovation performance and examines the moderating roles of family involvement and the intensity of government environmental regulation. Using data from 1678 Chinese public family firms over the period from 2012 to 2020, which include 9048 firm–year observations, our results show a significant positive effect of founder CEOs’ clan cultural values on firms’ green innovation practices. Additionally, this positive effect is weakened when the level of family involvement is high, due to conflict. Moreover, the positive influence is strengthened when government environmental regulation is more stringent.

Keywords: founder imprints; clan cultural values; green innovation; family involvement; government environmental regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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