Ownership Heterogeneity and Corporate Innovation Output: A Study on Family Blockholders and Activist Hedge Funds

Abstract

This study examines the interplay between two influential yet opposing shareholder types—family blockholders and hedge funds—in relation to corporate innovation output. Using panel data on U.S. publicly traded firms listed in the S&P 1500, we find that family blockholders have a negative effect on radical innovation output in the form of citation-weighted patents and that this negative effect is intensified in the presence of activist hedge funds. Our study advances insight into the implications of ownership heterogeneity for innovation output choices in family-influenced firms.