Corporate social responsibility disclosure and information asymmetry: the role of family ownership

This study considers the moderating role of family ownership, taking into account information differences between family and minority investors, and corroborates the existence of a two-way relation between CSR disclosure and information asymmetry. Our analysis of international corporate financial data for the period 2003–2009 shows there is an adverse selection effect by which family owners take advantage of insider information, thus attenuating any reduction of information asymmetry achieved by CSR disclosure.