The Influence of Family Governance on the Value of Chinese Family Businesses: Signal Transmission Effect of Financial Performance

Abstract

The phenomenon of family governance in Chinese family businesses may not only signal a high second-party agency cost that infringes on the interests of small and medium shareholders, but it may also signal this as a stable governance structure. Based on the theory of signal transmission, this paper studies the degree of influence of Chinese family governance on the corporate value of Chinese family businesses and the signaling role played by corporate financial performance in this process. This paper also analyzes a sample of Chinese A-share listed family businesses from 2011 to 2020. The results show that the family governance of Chinese family enterprises can promote the improvement of enterprise value, because operating capacity, solvency, profitability, and development capacity can improve the credibility of family governance signals.