Government initiated corporate social responsibility activities: evidence from a poverty alleviation campaign in China

Yuyuan Chang, Wen He, Jianling Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

51 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In 2016 the Chinese government initiated a nationwide campaign aiming to eliminate poverty in China by 2020. Over 20% of listed firms in China have made significant contributions to the campaign. Using hand-collected data on listed firms’ contributions to the campaign and multivariate analyses, we examine whether managers’ and politicians’ personal incentives play an important role in firms’ contributions to the campaign. The results show that firms are more likely to contribute if they are state-owned and managers are appointed by governments, if managers have a higher risk of being targeted in a concurrent anti-corruption campaign, if the political leaders in their province are new or intend to seek promotion, and if managers or directors have experienced poverty in their early life. The results suggest that it is important to consider managers’ and politicians’ personal incentives in CSR activities that could have a grand social impact.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)661-685
Number of pages25
JournalJournal of Business Ethics
Volume173
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • China
  • Corporate social responsibility
  • Government
  • Incentives
  • Poverty alleviation

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