| The Outline of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China and Vision 2035 emphasises that "the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs should be protected equally in accordance with the law,various barriers restricting the development of private enterprises should be broken down,and the legal environment and policy system for promoting the development of small,medium and micro enterprises and individual entrepreneurs should be improved.Promote the entrepreneurial spirit and accelerate the construction of world-class enterprises." Encouraged by the policies of the Party and the State,private enterprises are developing rapidly.And family enterprises,as the most universal form of business organisation,occupy a pivotal position in the private economy.Family businesses in China have developed in the soil of traditional Chinese culture.As a representative of traditional culture,it is of great relevance to study the influence of Confucianism on family enterprises.The "grandparental" style of family leadership often represents a high concentration of shareholdings.It is worth exploring the impact of this type of shareholding and its collision with Confucianism on the development of family businesses.In addition,companies are always influenced by the external environment and the legal system has an enforcing effect.The effect of Confucian culture on the performance of family businesses may also be influenced by the level of the local legal system.The level of legal systems in different regions may also have a moderating effect on the impact of equity concentration.There are alternative or complementary relationships between the two,and how effectively the interaction should be used to enhance business performance is crucial to the long-term development of family businesses.This paper selects data on family firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards in China from 2010 to 2020 as a sample,and conducts an empirical analysis using a random effects model,a mediating effects model and a moderating effects model to explore the impact on family firm performance under the combined effect of the macroeconomic environment and micro-individual characteristics.The findings indicate that(1)the stronger the degree to which a firm is influenced by Confucian culture,the greater the positive effect on its family firm performance.Further channel tests explain that Confucian culture affects firm performance primarily by reducing agency costs rather than innovation incentives.(2)Meanwhile,the degree of equity concentration has a significant positive contribution to the level of performance of family firms.A relatively concentrated degree of equity effectively deals with the problems caused by the principal-agent relationship through the dual path of managerial incentives and the reduction of agency costs.(3)The positive effect of Confucianism is enhanced when there is also a concentration of equity.The paper also finds that(4)the positive effects of Confucian culture are more pronounced when the external legal environment is weak.(5)and that the positive effect of equity concentration is more pronounced when the level of regional rule of law is weak.The results remain robust through endogeneity and robustness tests.This paper provides micro-level evidence for the modern role of Confucian culture,establishes the foundational position of traditional culture in business theory,and corrects the bias against Confucian culture in foreign sinology.It also constructs a research framework that encompasses culture,shareholding structure and corporate governance,clarifies the transmission channels through which culture and shareholding structure affect corporate performance,considers the moderating role of the legal system,and provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for the transformation and development of family firms. |
