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Using a scientometric approach, this study frames the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research over a period of 46 years. It carries out a statistical‐historical analysis mapping the main topics, references, sources, and countries of publication emergent in the CSR research. We apply this combination of bibliometric analyses on a sample of 2,583 CSR studies derived from Scopus (1973–2018). These analyses illustrate the interdisciplinary character of CSR. Second, this study recognises numerous topics in the history of CSR research and demonstrates how these topics emerge, vanish, or become steady over time. Third, the patterns of evolution in terms of topics are reflected in scientific journal specialisation and country coauthorship collaborations. Finally, this research provides the latest evaluation on the state of the art in this field, highlighting the newest and hottest topics. By plotting out the evolution of CSR research, practical implications are identified.

We investigate the influence of family ownership and family involvement in the management on the firm’s intellectual capital (IC). The resource-based theory of the firm predicts both benefits and disadvantages of the family on the firm’s IC. Using Pulic’s VAIC as a proxy for the IC of the company, we test two sets of competing hypotheses through multivariate regressions of panel data from Italian listed companies. The results show that family firms have a significantly higher average VAIC than non-family firms. We find a non-linear association between family involvement in the management and IC. At lower levels, the family involvement has a positive association with IC. At higher levels, when the benefits of the family interaction with the business are overcompensated by the disadvantages, the relationship reverses and becomes negative. The research can contribute to both the academic literature on intellectual capital and to family business studies

Building on agency theory, this article investigates whether family firms’ accounting behavior regarding long-lived asset write-offs differs from that of nonfamily firms. We provide evidence that nonfamily firms use write-offs for earnings management purposes, while family firms report write-offs coherent with the firm performance. Family firms experience dwindling sales and lower profitability in the years following the write-offs, consistently with an effective decline in their assets value. The findings are consistent with reduced owner-manager agency conflicts in family firms. We find no indication of family entrenchment, which is consistent with family owners being concerned with the reputational damage associated with a loss of a firm’s asset value

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