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Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. The Case of Chinese Listed Companies

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  • Xiaojuan Wu

    (Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Ostrava, 702 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
    Department of Accounting, School of Management, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang 050031, China)

  • Patrycja Hąbek

    (Faculty of Organization and Management, Silesian University of Technology, 41-800 Zabrze, Poland)

Abstract

Compared with Western developed countries, corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in China started relatively late, but so far, its development has been going on for more than ten years. Therefore, the development process of CSR reporting as a vital tool to reflect the CSR related information of Chinese listed companies is worth studying. It has been asserted in a large amount of literature that the government of a country has an important influence on the development of CSR reporting. Thus, in this paper, we aim to study the trends in CSR reporting practices of Chinese listed companies through statistical analysis methods and then consider the role of the government in it. The results show that the number of CSR reports issued by Chinese listed companies has increased year by year; notably, the number of voluntary CSR disclosure and environmental information disclosure has increased significantly. However, the overall disclosure rate of CSR reports is low and shows no upward trend, the published CSR reports lack third-party certification, and the information disclosure level of most CSR reports is concentrated at a relatively low level. The findings provide some useful references for the future development of Chinese CSR related laws, regulations, and guidelines.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaojuan Wu & Patrycja Hąbek, 2021. "Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. The Case of Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8640-:d:607369
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jiangsheng Deng & Rongguang Zhang & Qiwen Qiu, 2023. "Spatial Impact of Industrial Structure Upgrading and Corporate Social Responsibility on Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Changjiang Zhang & Sihan Zhang & Yue Zhang & Yuqi Yang & Kai Lan, 2024. "Does Green Finance Policy Contribute to ESG Disclosure of Listed Companies? A Quasi-Natural Experiment from China," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    4. Wu, Xiaojuan & Dluhošová, Dana & Zmeškal, Zdeněk, 2023. "The moderating role of a corporate life cycle with the impact of economic value-added on corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China's listed companies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Ruixin Su & Weizhou Zhong, 2022. "Corporate Communication of CSR in China: Characteristics and Regional Differences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Kenny Fernando & Selfi Nurcholifah & Andrey Hasiholan Pulungan, 2022. "Disclosure of Environmental, Social, and Governance on Firm Performance Pre and Post Introduction of Integrated Reporting: Evidence from ASEAN Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 377-382, November.

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