¡@¡@Corporate foundations initiated by large family enterprises are usually explained from the social responsibility viewpoint. In that, the family initiated the corporate foundations to achieve the social responsibility in the society. However, what is the possible control role of corporate foundations in family businesses is seldom investigated. By utilizing the over-eight-year data in Taiwan¡¦s family business groups, this study tries to investigate the antecedent of corporate foundations in large family business groups from the resource dependence theory and institutional theory viewpoint. The results indicate that the family ownership and family management will influence the control of corporate foundations in large family business groups in Taiwan. Specifically, the more likely that the family members involve in key decision-making roles in the group, and the more likely that the family members will utilize pyramidal ownership structure to control the multiple affiliates in the group, the more likely that the family members will serve as the key decision-making roles in the corporate foundations in the family business groups. The findings provide a power explanation in initiating corporate foundations in family business context. Moreover, the findings indicate that the corporate foundation play a key role in the share-controlled relationships in the large family business groups. The results provide referable values in discussing the non-profit organizations roles in family business group¡¦s control issues.

This dissertation consists of three studies related to accounting disclosure at the interface of the organization and society. The first study investigates the overlapping perspectives of legitimacy theory, institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and stakeholder theory and integrates these theories into a more cohesive meta-theory of the organization-society interface. The second study examines whether a corporation's charitable contributions represent a corporate social performance strategy or a legitimation strategy. More specifically, study two investigates, from two competing perspectives, how corporate executives rationalize their philanthropic actions. The third study analyzes the relationship between the current tax laws and the fulfillment of corporate foundations' social functions. Taken together, these three studies build upon prior theoretical and empirical work to advance social and environmental accounting research.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / indefinitely