Board diversity and corporate social performance in family firms. The moderating effect of the institutional and business environment

We analyze the effect of structural and demographic board diversity on family firms'corporate social performance (CSP), taking into account certain institutional and busi-ness environment aspects. The sample consists of French, German, Italian, Spanishand Portuguese nonfinancial listed firms over the period 2014–2021. We comparefamily and nonfamily firms before focusing on family businesses. Findings show thatCSP benefits from having female directors in family firms whilst independent direc-tors increase CSP in nonfamily businesses. Family directors exert a negative effect onCSP in family firms. The enforcement of law makes the positive influence of boardindependence significant for family firms and of nondual CEOs for nonfamily compa-nies. Within family firms, the negative effect of family directors is strengthened bythe enforcement of law but lowered by the efficiency of the judicial system. Hostilebusiness environment always lowers CSP and reduces female directors' positive influ-ence for family firms.