The Role of Sustainability in Family Firm Branding: An Identity-Based Analysis

Abstract

This study examines how large German private family firms integrate sustainability into their corporate brand identities and how familiness shapes these meanings. Using an interpretivist design, it analyzes sustainability-related discourse from the websites of 25 family-controlled firms through the Family Firm Sustainability Brand Identity Matrix (FFSBIM), adapted from the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix (CBIM). The analysis reveals that sustainability is articulated via three overarching logics: Moral Stewardship, Translational Familiness, and Systemic Professionalization. Familiness acts as a flexible legitimacy resource. It is explicit in value-driven brand identity elements, implicit in relational ones, and institutionalized in systemic contexts. Cross-case comparison identifies five ideal types of sustainability–familiness integration, illustrating how firms combine heritage, responsibility, and professionalization to meet stakeholder expectations. The research advances branding, sustainability, and family business literature by showing that familiness and sustainability co-evolve as interdependent brand identity resources. It emphasizes aligning moral narratives with credible practices and provides a framework for assessing the coherence between identity and sustainability.

Keywords: family business; familiness; sustainability; corporate brand identity; legitimacy