Answer to whom? A comparative empirical study on institutional drivers for firms’ CSR reporting in China and the United States

Abstract

While earlier research has mainly focused on the business-centric perspective for corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, this study adopts a society-centric perspective and tests institutional drivers. We apply a panel data analysis using 56,532 firm-years from 2006 to 2019, comprising listed firms in China and the United States. The results show that firms exposed to more pressure are more likely to issue CSR reports in both countries. CSR reporting in China tends to be externally driven, as Chinese firms are experiencing more institutional drivers than their US counterparts under similar reporting circumstances. In verifying institutional drivers, those which are shared or differ in two distinct markets are not determined by economic development status, but are rather affected by the orders of institutional logics. This study provides empirical evidence for future research opportunities for an ex-ante view of CSR and practical suggestions for globalised CSR reporting frames.