دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی گروه های کسب و کار و مسئولیت اجتماعی شرکت ها - الزویر 2018

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of firms’ business group affiliations on their performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of China. We find that firms with a dual-status of simultaneously being a business group member and a state-owned enterprise (SOE) have weaker CSR performance. Our finding is consistent with the view that CSR engagement is a strategy for firms to pursue political legitimacy from the government and seek legitimacy in general from the public. The business group affiliation and the SOE identity together afford legitimacy to the firm and reduce its need to conduct CSR activities.

Summary and conclusion

This study investigates the impact of firms’ business group affiliations on their CSR performance. Using a Chinese sample of 3,035 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2014, we find that non-BG firms perform better than BG firms in CSR. This finding applies to not only the overall CSR performance measured by the total CSR score but also four dimensions of CSR performance measured by four components of the total score. Furthermore, after the sample is divided into SOEs and non-SOEs, it reveals that our finding continues to hold in the subsample of SOEs but not in the subsample of non-SOEs. Overall, the results suggest that a firm’s dual-status of being a business group member and an SOE at the same time leads to poorer performance in CSR. Our findings are consistent with the view that CSR engagement is a strategy for firms to pursue political legitimacy from the government and seek legitimacy in general from the public. The business group affiliation and the SOE status together afford political legitimacy to the firm and reduce its need to pursue legitimacy in general due to the relatively secure environment provided by the group. This study has implications for the general public and policymakers in China who have been supportive of business groups during the country’s economic reform. This study has some limitations. First, it is conducted with Chinese publicly traded firms that have issued CSR reports, and hence the findings may not be generalizable to other firms that are not listed on the stock markets or have not issued CSR reports.