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  • 2014
  • Article
  • Organization Science

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

By: Christopher Marquis and Cuili Qian
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:53
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Abstract

This study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals regarding appropriate corporate activity. We integrate institutional theory and research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and (b) how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive. First, we examine how firm characteristics reflecting dependence on the government—including private versus state ownership, executives serving on political councils, political legacy, and financial resources—affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Second, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of government monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and local government institutional development influences the extent to which CSR communications are symbolically decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the approximately 1,600 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2006 and 2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing (a) the importance of government signaling as a mechanism of political influence, (b) how different types of dependency on the government expose firms to different types of legitimacy pressures, and (c) that firms face a decoupling risk that leads them to be more likely to enact substantive actions in situations where they are likely to be monitored.

Keywords

Institutional Theory; Political Strategy; Non-market Strategy; China; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Emerging Markets; Government and Politics; China

Citation

Marquis, Christopher, and Cuili Qian. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?" Organization Science 25, no. 1 (January–February 2014): 127–148.
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More from the Authors

    • September–October 2018
    • Organization Science

    The Paradox of Responsive Authoritarianism: How Civic Activism Spurs Environmental Penalties in China

    By: Christopher Marquis and Yanhua Bird
    • March 22, 2016
    • Work In Progress (American Sociological Association blog)

    The Globalization of Corporate Environmental Disclosure: Accountability or Greenwashing?

    By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou
    • March–April 2016
    • Organization Science

    Scrutiny, Norms, and Selective Disclosure: A Global Study of Greenwashing

    By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou
More from the Authors
  • The Paradox of Responsive Authoritarianism: How Civic Activism Spurs Environmental Penalties in China By: Christopher Marquis and Yanhua Bird
  • The Globalization of Corporate Environmental Disclosure: Accountability or Greenwashing? By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou
  • Scrutiny, Norms, and Selective Disclosure: A Global Study of Greenwashing By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou
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