What Type of Corporate Governance Promotes New Quality Productive Forces in Family Firms: A Configurational Analysis under the Mediation of R&D Alliances

Chen Yuan, He Xiaogang

Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 47, Issue 12, pp. 59 - 78 (2025)  DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20241213.102

Summary

Developing new quality productive forces is essential for high-quality development, making their cultivation in family firms a significant research focus. Based on the data from family firms listed on China’s A-share market from 2015 to 2022, this paper constructs a complex mediating model of “corporate governance system – R&D alliances – new quality productive forces”, and employs a mixed research method of dynamic QCA and regression analysis to explore the diverse paths through which corporate governance promotes R&D alliances and their impact on new quality productive forces from a configurational perspective. The findings reveal that: (1) A single corporate governance element is insufficient to constitute a necessary condition for high-level R&D alliances. (2) Three types of corporate governance configuration—manager-driven, supervisory-board-supportive, and board-stakeholder-collaborative—constitute the driving paths for high-level R&D alliances. This conclusion reveals no significant temporal effect, but family governance characteristics lead to differences in the mean intra-group coverage of each configuration. (3) R&D alliances exhibit a complex mediating effect between the corporate governance system and new quality productive forces in family firms. The manager-driven and board-stakeholder-collaborative types significantly stimulate high-level R&D alliances, thereby facilitating the enhancement of new quality productive forces in family firms. Although the supervisory-board-supportive type promotes high-level R&D alliances, it does not directly affect new quality productive forces in family firms. The findings offer valuable insights for advancing modern enterprise system in family firms and enhancing the synergy between R&D alliances and new quality productive forces.

Keywords

corporate governance system; R&D alliances; new quality productive forces; family firms; mixed research method