Green patenting and corporate social responsibility: Does family involvement in business matter?

This paper explores whether family and non-family firms differ in terms of their capability to introduce green patenting. By considering the environmental performance as a corporate social responsibility related concern, the analysis is based on a large data set of patenting activities carried out by Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2009-2017. Results show that family firms are less likely than non-family firms to implement innovations in green technologies. This holds true whatever the level of accumulation in green and non-green knowledge.