Abstract Despite the increasing relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in family firms, the existing literature remains fragmented and underdeveloped. Although some prior reviews have mapped related domains, they have not systematically examined the determinants or theoretical foundations of CSR disclosure in family firms. This paper addresses this gap by combining a systematic literature review with bibliometric network analysis to identify key themes and theoretical foundations. Analysing a dataset of 93 Scopus-indexed articles published between 2011 and 2024, the study answers two primary questions: (1) Which determinants shape CSR disclosure in family firms? and (2) Which theories are most commonly applied? The thematic analysis reveals four clusters representing the main determinants: board characteristics, ownership structure, corporate governance mechanisms and family ownership. The findings are mixed and, in several cases, non-linear, with no consensus among researchers. The literature primarily draws on Stakeholder, Socioemotional Wealth, Agency and Legitimacy theories, often applied in combination. This review provides both a synthesis and a structural map of the field, clarifying the current state of knowledge and charting directions for future research. Practically, the results suggest tailoring disclosure requirements to ownership concentration and strengthening board-level oversight and external assurance. Theoretically, they call for integrative, configurational models capable of capturing non-linearity in family firms’ disclosure decisions.
Mosad et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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