IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v33y2016i1d10.1007_s10490-015-9441-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious atmosphere, law enforcement, and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xingqiang Du

    (Xiamen University)

  • Yingjie Du

    (Shanghai University)

  • Quan Zeng

    (Xiamen University)

  • Hongmei Pei

    (Xiamen University)

  • Yingying Chang

    (Xiamen University)

Abstract

Using a sample of 4186 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market during the period of 2007–2009, we examine the influence of religious atmosphere on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the moderating role of law enforcement. Specifically, based on hand-collected data on religious atmosphere, our findings show that religious atmosphere is significantly positively associated with CSR, suggesting that religious atmosphere plays an important role in strengthening CSR. Moreover, law enforcement attenuates the positive association between religious atmosphere and CSR, implying the substitutive effects between religious atmosphere (informal system) and law enforcement (formal institution) on CSR-increasing. In addition, above conclusions are still valid after using the change model to control for the potential endogeneity between religious atmosphere and CSR.

Suggested Citation

  • Xingqiang Du & Yingjie Du & Quan Zeng & Hongmei Pei & Yingying Chang, 2016. "Religious atmosphere, law enforcement, and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 229-265, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:33:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10490-015-9441-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-015-9441-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-015-9441-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-015-9441-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    2. Stefano Pace, 2013. "Does Religion Affect the Materialism of Consumers? An Empirical Investigation of Buddhist Ethics and the Resistance of the Self," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 25-46, January.
    3. Loughran, Tim & Schultz, Paul, 2005. "Liquidity: Urban versus rural firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 341-374, November.
    4. Wenjing Li & Ran Zhang, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Ownership Structure, and Political Interference: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(4), pages 631-645, November.
    5. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2013. "Does Information Asymmetry Matter to Equity Pricing? Evidence from Firms’ Geographic Location," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 140-181, March.
    6. S. Brammer & Geoffrey Williams & John Zinkin, 2007. "Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility in a Large Cross-Country Sample," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 229-243, March.
    7. K. O’Shaughnessy & Eric Gedajlovic & Patrick Reinmoeller, 2007. "The influence of firm, industry and network on the corporate social performance of Japanese firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 283-303, September.
    8. Scheve, Kenneth & Stasavage, David, 2006. "Religion and Preferences for Social Insurance," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 1(3), pages 255-286, July.
    9. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    10. Nadhakan Shinnaranantana & Nicholas J. Dimmitt & Sununta Siengthai, 2013. "CSR manager competencies: a case study from Thailand," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(3), pages 395-411, July.
    11. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    12. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    13. Wiese, Harald, 2011. "Moderation, contentment, work, and alms—A Buddhist household theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 909-918.
    14. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    15. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Yingjie Du & Wentao Feng & Quan Zeng, 2014. "Religion, the Nature of Ultimate Owner, and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 235-256, August.
    16. Christo Pirinsky & Qinghai Wang, 2006. "Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1991-2015, August.
    17. Xingqiang Du, 2013. "Does Religion Matter to Owner-Manager Agency Costs? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 319-347, December.
    18. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    19. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    20. Lei Wang & Heikki Juslin, 2009. "The Impact of Chinese Culture on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Harmony Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 433-451, October.
    21. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "Does Confucianism Reduce Minority Shareholder Expropriation? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 661-716, December.
    22. Juelin Yin & Yuli Zhang, 2012. "Institutional Dynamics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in an Emerging Country Context: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 301-316, December.
    23. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.
    24. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    25. Scott, Allen J. (ed.), 2001. "Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297994.
    26. Bala Ramasamy & Matthew Yeung & Alan Au, 2010. "Consumer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of Religion and Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 61-72, February.
    27. Christopher J. Malloy, 2005. "The Geography of Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 719-755, April.
    28. Loughran, Tim, 2007. "Geographic dissemination of information," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 675-694, December.
    29. Nabil Ibrahim & Donald Howard & John Angelidis, 2008. "The Relationship between Religiousness and Corporate Social Responsibility Orientation: Are there Differences Between Business Managers and Students?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 165-174, March.
    30. Xingqiang Du, 2014. "Does Religion Mitigate Tunneling? Evidence from Chinese Buddhism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 299-327, December.
    31. Wang, Qian & Wong, T.J. & Xia, Lijun, 2008. "State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 112-134, September.
    32. Anthony Gill & Erik Lundsgaarde, 2004. "State Welfare Spending and Religiosity," Rationality and Society, , vol. 16(4), pages 399-436, November.
    33. Rachel M. McCleary & Robert J. Barro, 2006. "Religion and Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 49-72, Spring.
    34. Ran Zhang & Zabihollah Rezaee & Jigao Zhu, 2010. "Corporate Philanthropic Disaster Response and Ownership Type: Evidence from Chinese Firms’ Response to the Sichuan Earthquake," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 51-63, January.
    35. Scott D. Dyreng & William J. Mayew & Christopher D. Williams, 2012. "Religious Social Norms and Corporate Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(7-8), pages 845-875, September.
    36. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Quan Zeng & Yingjie Du, 2014. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Polluting Industries: Does Religion Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 485-507, October.
    37. Katharina Pistor, 2005. "Governing Stock Markets in Transition Economies: Lessons from China," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 7(1), pages 184-210.
    38. Brown, William O. & Helland, Eric & Smith, Janet Kiholm, 2006. "Corporate philanthropic practices," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 855-877, December.
    39. Ayers, Benjamin C. & Ramalingegowda, Santhosh & Eric Yeung, P., 2011. "Hometown advantage: The effects of monitoring institution location on financial reporting discretion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 41-61, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dominik Aaken & Florian Buchner, 2020. "Religion and CSR: a systematic literature review," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 917-945, June.
    2. Mehdi Khodakarami & Hassan Yazdifar & Alireza Faraji Khaledi & Saeed Bagheri Kheirabadi & Amin Sarlak, 2024. "The Level of Islamic Religiosity of the Local Community and Corporate Environmental Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from Iran," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 483-512, March.
    3. Xu, Ziyao & Ma, Junfeng & Li, Donghui & Fu, Wentao, 2022. "Religious beliefs and stock market participation: Evidence from urban households in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Huang, Ruixian & Shi, Yujing & Li, Danyang & Wang, Shuoxiang & Jia, Zhehao, 2024. "Religious atmosphere, seismic impact, and corporate charitable donations in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Bekele, Marta G. & Muthuri, Judy N. & Ayele, Mengistu Bogale, 2024. "The influence of national culture on corporate social responsibility in the Ethiopian mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Li, Xinlan & Li, Changhong & Wang, Zhan & Jiao, Wenting & Pang, Yiwen, 2021. "The effect of corporate philanthropy on corporate performance of Chinese family firms: The moderating role of religious atmosphere," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    7. Yuxuan Li & Xin Miao & Dequan Zheng & Yanhong Tang, 2019. "Corporate Public Transparency on Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Political Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Yaoqin Li, 2021. "Religious founders and employee welfare," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(5), pages 6037-6067, December.
    9. Yanqi Sun, 2024. "Does integrated reporting fit China? A contextual analysis for the innovation of sustainability reporting," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26313-26344, October.
    10. Yasser Eliwa & Ahmed Aboud & Ahmed Saleh, 2023. "Board gender diversity and ESG decoupling: Does religiosity matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4046-4067, November.
    11. Stephen T. Homer & Koon Vui Yee & Kuan Siew Khor, 2023. "Developing a measurement instrument for perceived Corporate citizenship using multi-stakeholder, multi-industry and cross-country validations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 277-300, February.
    12. Simone Terzani & Teresa Turzo, 2021. "Religious social norms and corporate sustainability: The effect of religiosity on environmental, social, and governance disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 485-496, January.
    13. Zuhui Xu & Zhiyang Liu & Jie Wu, 2022. "Buddhist entrepreneurs, charitable behaviors, and social entrepreneurship: evidence from China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1197-1217, October.
    14. Shu-Yun Du & Xiao-Chen Shao & Alfredo Jiménez & Jeoung Yul Lee, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility of Chinese Multinational Enterprises: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, December.
    15. Rong Liu & Min Zhao & Jianyu Ren, 2022. "The Influence Mechanism of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Corporate Performance: The Mediation Effect of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-27, September.
    16. Zhou, Xi & Ying, Sammy Xiaoyan & You, Jiaxing & Wu, Huiying, 2024. "Like parent, like child: MNCs’ CSR and their foreign subsidiaries’ environmental footprint," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. Ramiz ur Rehman & Zahid Riaz & Charles Cullinan & Junrui Zhang & Fanghua Wang, 2020. "Institutional Ownership and Value Relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    18. Ali Uyar & Cemil Kuzey & Mehmet Ali Koseoglu & Abdullah S Karaman, 2023. "Travel and tourism competitiveness index and the tourism sector development," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 1005-1031, June.
    19. Xingqiang Du, 2019. "What’s in a Surname? The Effect of Auditor-CEO Surname Sharing on Financial Misstatement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 849-874, September.
    20. Antonio K. W. Lau & Stacy H. N. Lee & Sojin Jung, 2018. "The Role of the Institutional Environment in the Relationship between CSR and Operational Performance: An Empirical Study in Korean Manufacturing Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    21. Rongjia Su & Dianjie Liang & Weili Teng, 2023. "The impact of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism on CSR practices in family businesses in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1394-1417, September.
    22. Xiangyu Chen & Peng Wan, 2020. "Social trust and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 485-500, March.
    23. Panpan Fu & Seema Wati Narayan & Olaf Weber & Yonggang Tian & Yi-Shuai Ren, 2022. "Does Local Confucian Culture Affect Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Ratings? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    24. Liu, Aiqing & Shu, Chengli & Xiao, Zhenxin, 2024. "Entrepreneurial Orientation, political Ties, and corporate Reputation: The moderating roles of institutional environments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    25. Wan, Peng & Chen, Xiangyu & Ke, Yun & Dong, Wang, 2024. "Does local government debt affect corporate social responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 334-348.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "Does Confucianism Reduce Minority Shareholder Expropriation? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 661-716, December.
    2. Xingqiang Du, 2014. "Does Religion Mitigate Tunneling? Evidence from Chinese Buddhism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 299-327, December.
    3. Kun Su, 2019. "Does religion benefit corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1206-1221, November.
    4. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Shaojuan Lai & Yingjie Du & Hongmei Pei, 2015. "Does Religion Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 699-749, October.
    5. Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Yongqiang Ma & Hui Xu, 2019. "Confucianism, openness to the West, and corporate investment efficiency," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 554-590, June.
    6. Xingqiang Du & Jianying Weng & Quan Zeng & Hongmei Pei, 2017. "Culture, Marketization, and Owner-Manager Agency Costs: A Case of Merchant Guild Culture in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 353-386, June.
    7. Huang, Ruixian & Shi, Yujing & Li, Danyang & Wang, Shuoxiang & Jia, Zhehao, 2024. "Religious atmosphere, seismic impact, and corporate charitable donations in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    8. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Yingjie Du & Wentao Feng & Quan Zeng, 2014. "Religion, the Nature of Ultimate Owner, and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 235-256, August.
    9. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Quan Zeng & Yingjie Du, 2014. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Polluting Industries: Does Religion Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 485-507, October.
    10. Rongjia Su & Dianjie Liang & Weili Teng, 2023. "The impact of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism on CSR practices in family businesses in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1394-1417, September.
    11. Xingqiang Du, 2019. "Does CEO-Auditor Dialect Sharing Impair Pre-IPO Audit Quality? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 699-735, May.
    12. Xingqiang Du, 2013. "Does Religion Matter to Owner-Manager Agency Costs? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 319-347, December.
    13. Lijun Ma & Xin Wang & Che Zhang, 2021. "Does Religion Shape Corporate Cost Behavior?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 835-855, May.
    14. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Ahmed Khamis Al‐Hadi, 2023. "Consequences of local social norms: A review of the literature in accounting, finance, and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 3-45, March.
    15. Xingqiang Du, 2017. "Religious Belief, Corporate Philanthropy, and Political Involvement of Entrepreneurs in Chinese Family Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 385-406, May.
    16. Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2022. "Confucianism and IPO underpricing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Bo Xu & Linlin Ma, 2022. "Religious Values Motivating CSR: An Empirical Study from Corporate Leaders’ Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 487-505, March.
    18. Xingqiang Du, 2016. "Does Confucianism Reduce Board Gender Diversity? Firm-Level Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 399-436, June.
    19. Kejing Chen & Wenqi Guo & Yanling Kang & Qingqing Wan, 2021. "Does religion improve corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 808-818, March.
    20. Wen Shi & Xiaogang Bi, 2023. "Buddhism and M&A performance: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4505-4531, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:33:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10490-015-9441-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.