Conceptualizing family business social responsibility

Abstract This article expands family business and CSR research in a number of ways. Its first purpose is to redesign two core corporate social responsibility (CSR) theories (stakeholder theory and Carroll's CSR pyramid), enhancing their relevance for the family business domain. This extension is built by incorporating familiness and SEW as components of family business social responsibility (FBSR), respectively as basis for ethical behavior and as idiosyncratic value system for decision-making. Second, by positioning the ownership system, the business system, and the family system at the hub of its constellation of stakeholders, three configurations are produced: instrumental (doing good in order to do well), normative (doing well and doing good) and dynastic (doing good through doing well). The expanded versions of theory and ensuing configurations have value to both the domain of CSR and that of family business; the theorization of family business social responsibility constitutes a much-needed bridge between family business and CSR, making contributions to research, policy and practice.