The clan culture formed by blood ties has rich connotations, emphasizes the characteristics of mutual benefit and resource sharing among members of the clan, which is beneficial to alleviating information asymmetry and improving transaction efficiency. In view of this, this paper uses genealogy data of the place where the family business is registered to explore the influence of clan culture on the merger and acquisition (M&A) decisions of family companies.

The study finds that companies in regions with strong clan culture are more willing to make M&A decisions. Further research shows that the clan relationship network formed based on blood ties helps family companies gain the advantage of social capital, which makes companies more motivated to make M&A decisions. In areas with higher social trust, clan culture can promote companies to make more M&A decisions. The influence of clan culture is more pronounced when it is far from the developed cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, that is, areas with higher information asymmetry, and when entrepreneurs are locals.

Compared with the previous studies, this paper enriches the theory of M&A decision-making from the informal institutional perspective of clan culture, expands the research framework of social capital, and provides a new perspective and empirical evidence for understanding the rapid development of family companies, guiding the healthy development of relational networks and improving the level of social trust.