Family Businesses And Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Orientation: A Study Of Moroccan Family Firms

Abstract

Several researchers have reported that family firms tend to show a CSR orientation in their activities which might increase their performance (Chrisman et al., 2005; O'Boyle et al., 2010).

In Morocco, many studies have focused on the integration of CSR principles into businesses without highlighting the impact of family structure on the adoption of CSR. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether the family structure of Moroccan companies influences CSR adoption and how it affects financial performance. We used a framework combining stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and stewardship theory and investigated the linkage between family structure, CSR orientation and financial performance. Our results show that family structure positively influences the CSR orientation of Moroccan family firms and thus enhances their financial performance. Although this trend is recent in Morocco, our exploratory research on CSR in Moroccan family firms is a first step toward establishing a model to explain this phenomenon in developing countries.