Understanding Family Business Philanthropy: Insights from a Lebanese Crisis Context
By Neamat Sidani
My PhD dissertation presents qualitative research at the nexus of several disciplines and multiple fields, namely: Family Business, Philanthropy, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Crisis Management. I theorize from a specific context which is the Arab Middle East or the Middle East and North African Region (MENA) and I focus my study on the country Lebanon and the Lebanese social fabric.
Why Family Businesses Engage in Philanthropy
Ever since I started by career in banking, I pondered about how businesses or corporates (a key client of any bank) act in good citizenship. As I embarked on my research quest, I found a thin demarcation between corporate social responsibility and corporate philanthropy, a gap that has been widely debated in literature. While my master’s thesis, back in the years, focused on understanding corporate social responsibility, I found it essential to delve into corporate philanthropy in my PhD. To narrow down my research, I focused on the philanthropy practiced by family businesses. Family businesses, as an object of my study, operate with dual objectives: profitability and socioemotional wealth. Socioemotional wealth refers to the non-financial benefits a family running a business pursues, for example, family legacy, family values, and family reputation. As a result, family businesses differ from non-family businesses. They do not measure success by revenue only because they also weigh their ability to support employees, customers, and communities.
Philanthropy within family businesses takes various forms, including donations to charities, scholarships, and direct support to employees (and their families). This engagement is often informal, entrepreneurial, and collective, reflecting a deeply rooted commitment to the well-being of the communities in which they operate. This flexibility enhances their ability to make a meaningful impact in their surrounding. Moreover, the close-knit nature of family businesses allows for agile decision-making in response to external crisis or exogenous situations. Unlike larger corporations with bureaucratic hurdles, family businesses can identify community needs and mobilize resources to address them almost immediately.
The Power of Family Business Philanthropy in Times of Crisis
In times of crisis, businesses often face difficult choices—whether to prioritize survival or extend a helping hand to those in need. Back to my research quest, I found it interesting to conduct a field study which is place sensitive or place specific because the field of family business philanthropy is nascent. With little academic research, I opted to respond to scholarly calls for studying place-based philanthropy and contributing to knowledge in this direction. For family businesses, philanthropy is not just an act of generosity but a deeply embedded value, a bridge between business success and social responsibility. This becomes especially evident in countries facing socio-economic turmoils, such as Lebanon, where family businesses have stepped up as key players in crisis response.
Family Businesses as Crisis Responders
Between 2020 and 2023, Lebanon faced multiple crises resulting from three exogenous shocks (all happening in less than one year): a banking collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastating Beirut port explosion. Amid these challenges, family businesses owned by Lebanese business families who have a legacy in philanthropy, emerged as community lifelines or immediate crisis responders. Despite limited financial resources, they mobilized aid, provided financial support, and co-created emergency response mechanisms with local nonprofits. This phenomenon was not only about charity; it was about resilience and survival, for the businesses themselves and for the people relying on them. Having survived the Beirut port explosion myself, I found myself part of the empirical context. Immediately after the blast and perhaps to distract myself from the collective traumatic situation that every Lebanese citizen experienced back then, I decided to put on the hat of an interpretative researcher and designed a multiple case study of nine Lebanese family businesses with a legacy in local philanthropy. Over the three years and for each case, I conducted interviews with family business owners, family members who are not involved in the business, and employees.
One key insight from research on Lebanese family businesses during crises is that their philanthropy is transformative. For instance, whereas donating out of religious obligation is common across the Middle East, new philanthropic motives emerge to combat adversity. Such motives tend to relate more to instrumental values (entrepreneurship, collectivism, education) rather than mere intrinsic values (love, trust, empathy). Family businesses give voluntarily, and it goes beyond their social responsibility. By practicing philanthropy, family businesses build long-term reciprocal relationships with both internal and external stakeholders towards long term civic wealth creation. They strengthen their relations with local and international donors by amplifying their networking activities. This means that when businesses extend aid, they often expect increased loyalty and trust in return—a form of social contract that strengthens their position in the market. Philanthropic efforts often evolve into structured programs, such as employee philanthropic aid or educational philanthropy. Over time, these initiatives reinforce a sense of social responsibility and contribute to stronger communities.
The Role of the Founder and Shared Values
Founders of family businesses play a crucial role in shaping philanthropic responses. Their personal beliefs and values significantly influence how the business engages in giving. Many business owners see philanthropy as an extension of their moral obligation, aligning their personal and corporate identities. This alignment ensures that even in times of financial hardship, businesses continue to prioritize community support.
Trust is another fundamental pillar of family business philanthropy.
Family businesses often leverage their networks to amplify their impact. Collaboration with local nonprofits, government agencies, and other businesses can expand the reach of their philanthropic efforts, making them even more effective.
The Future of Family Business Philanthropy
As crises become more frequent and unpredictable, the role of family businesses as philanthropic actors will only grow. Their ability to act swiftly, leverage personal networks, and prioritize long-term relationships makes them unique contributors to societal well-being.
Future research should explore how these businesses can sustain their giving without compromising financial stability and how their philanthropic efforts can integrate with broader disaster relief strategies. Family business philanthropy is more than just corporate social responsibility—it is a testament to the enduring power of businesses rooted in shared philanthropic values that are centred at the family level. As seen in Lebanon, business families have proven that, even in times of crisis, they do not only run businesses but transform into beacons of hope and resilience for their communities.
By continuously transforming their philanthropic strategies and embracing innovation, business families owning family businesses can ensure that their contributions remain impactful and relevant in an ever-changing global condition.
I end this blog by expressing my sincere gratitude to the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP). I presented my initial working paper for the first time at the PhD workshop of the 10th International ERNOP Conference at the University College Dublin in 2021. Since then, I was blessed with the help, support, and encouragement of scholars in the field of philanthropy, who were interested in my research and who gave me insightful feedback whether at the PhD workshop or during conferences and webinars organized by ERNOP that I have attended during my PhD studies.
Neamat Sidani holds a PhD in Business Economics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her PhD dissertation, under the supervision of Luc Hens and Marc Jegers, provides two conceptual papers and three empirical papers focusing on understanding family business philanthropy and the philanthropic behavior of Lebanese business families in response to external crisis, respectively. Together with Stijn Van Puyvelde she has a book chapter published in the Routledge Handbook on Business and Management in the Middle East (2025). She also published in academic outlets such as the ISTR Working Paper Features. Throughout her PhD Neamat presented her work at conferences in Canada, Ireland, Croatia, Italy and Portugal. During her last year of PhD, she went on a short visiting stay at Carleton University. Neamat holds an MBA with distinction from the American University of Beirut and has a prior professional experience in banking.