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Do Family Firms Learn More From Other Family Firms Than From Non-Family Firms? Adoption Of The Board Reform, Toru Yoshikawa, Jung Wook Shim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Family firms differ from non-family firms because their owners are often motivated not only by economic incentives but also by non-economic considerations. This study investigates the effects of such non-economic motivation, especially the extent of family involvement and family legacy, on the adoption of a new practice, i.e., board reform that was newly introduced in the Japanese context in the late 1990s. Our empirical results show that while family firms are less likely to implement the board reform than non-family firms, board interlocks with other family firms facilitate the adoption. We also found that such factors as large family ownership …