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The influence of political connection on corporate social responsibility——evidence from Listed private companies in China

Author

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  • Haifeng Huang

    (Peking University HSBC Business School)

  • Zhenrui Zhao

    (Peking University HSBC Business School)

Abstract

In recent years, Chinese private companies have improved a lot in corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, especially in the philanthropic area. However, private companies’ awareness and performance of social responsibility still have a big disparity with SOEs. And private companies’ policy of social responsibility is subjective and preferential. To explain this contradiction, this paper tries to introduce political connection and, based on stakeholder salience theory, to test how political connection changes managers’ perception of stakeholders’ relative importance and cause changes in stakeholders’ satisfaction level of social responsibility requirement. The result shows that (1) political connection has positive influence on private companies’ CSR; (2) companies with political connection are significantly better than the ones without political connection in society-oriented and customers-oriented responsibility; (3) two kinds of companies have no significant difference in investors-oriented responsibility; (4) as for government-oriented and employee-oriented responsibility, companies with political connection are worse than ones without political connection. These findings are significant for China’s future construction of competition system and private companies’ choice of stakeholders and future investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Haifeng Huang & Zhenrui Zhao, 2016. "The influence of political connection on corporate social responsibility——evidence from Listed private companies in China," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijocsr:v:1:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1186_s40991-016-0007-3
    DOI: 10.1186/s40991-016-0007-3
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    2. Yasir Shahab & Collins G. Ntim & Ye Chengang & Farid Ullah & Samuel Fosu, 2018. "Environmental policy, environmental performance, and financial distress in China: Do top management team characteristics matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1635-1652, December.
    3. Robert Ebo Hinson & Frederick Avornyo & John Kuada & Felix Ankomah Asante, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and international business: examining the nexus and gaps from a developing economy perspective," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Xue, Fei & Chen, Qinyuan & Chan, Kam C. & Yi, Zhihong, 2022. "Is corporate social responsibility value relevant? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 520-532.
    6. Samuel Adomako & Nguyen P. Nguyen, 2020. "Politically connected firms and corporate social responsibility implementation expenditure in sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ghana," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2701-2711, November.
    7. Angela Kamidi & Junhua Guo, 2023. "The impact of political turnover on corporate misconduct and philanthropy: evidence from China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1369-1393, September.
    8. Farman Ullah Khan & Junrui Zhang & Nanyan Dong & Muhammad Usman & Sajid Ullah & Shahid Ali, 2021. "Does privatization matter for corporate social responsibility? Evidence from China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 497-515, September.
    9. Tariq H. Ismail & Mohamed El-Deeb & Yasser Tawfik Halim, 2022. "Do related party transactions affect the relationship between political connections and firm value? Evidence from Egypt," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Min Huang & Xiaobo Li & Jun Xia & Mengyao Li, 2024. "Does Confucianism Prompt Firms to Participate in Poverty Alleviation Campaigns?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(4), pages 743-762, February.
    11. Moses Elaigwu & Salau Olarinoye Abdulmalik & Abdelkader Alghorbany & Ayoib Che‐Ahmad, 2024. "Sustainability reporting quality in Malaysia: The intricacy of family controlled and politically connected firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4190-4210, September.
    12. Yu, Yin & Chi, Jing, 2021. "Political embeddedness, media positioning and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    13. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Sakkakom Maneenop & Sirimon Treepongkaruna, 2024. "Corporate governance, policies, and outcomes: The appointment of military connected boards and sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 448-471, January.

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