Empirical analysis reveals increased innovation efficiency from spousal co-ownership in Chinese family firms, suggesting joint leadership curbs minority expropriation.
Purpose This study aims to investigate how husband-wife joint shareholding influences the innovation efficiency of Chinese family firms, and to provide insights for family firms to enhance innovation efficiency through better governance. Design/methodology/approach Using 7,281 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share listed family firms from 2015 to 2022, the study applies fixed effects models to examine the impact of husband–wife joint shareholding on innovation efficiency with the endogeneity tests and robustness tests. Findings Husband–wife joint shareholding significantly promotes family firms' innovation efficiency. The positive effect is mediated by shareholder benefit expropriation and is weakened in second-generation involvement. Mature-stage firms experience greater benefits than growth-stage ones. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by examining husband–wife joint shareholding within the context of family firms' innovation. It identifies shareholder benefit expropriation as a key mediating mechanism and highlights the moderating effects of second-generation involvement and firm life cycle. The findings provide new governance insights for family firms.
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Sun et al. (2026) studied this question.
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