Antecedents and Influences of Corporate Citizenship: Case Study of a Finnish Family Firm

The current chapter addresses the antecedents and influences of corporate citizenship in a family-owned firm. Drawing from a case study of a Finnish family firm in the medical supplies sector, we contribute to the extant literature by focusing on antecedents such as lack of shareholder pressure, founder's vision and experiences, and intergenerational aspirations, and by linking these to reputational advantage. We also try to explore if reputational advantages have any specific linkage with the type of customer for the firm (i.e. public sector customers vs. private sector customers). The Nordic context is significant and appears as a major factor in our study. The increasing role of the private sector in maintaining the welfare state and contributing to societal wellbeing emerges in the findings as an influential factor. This adds a rather novel aspect to the literature on socioemotional wealth. Moreover, honest tax paying also emerged as an important attribute associated with corporate citizenship in the case firm. Finally, our study supports the notion that for family-owned firms to receive reputational advantage and long-term competitiveness, adopting a long-term perspective of its corporate citizenship role, rather than merely focusing on short-term monetary gains, is imperative.