Perception of Corporate Hypocrisy in China: The Roles of Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation and Communication.

Leilei Shi,Yuanjian Qin,Xianfeng Zhao,Xiao Wang,Yiqi Zhao

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00595

Abstract

In the past two decades, corporate hypocrisy has become a phenomenon that cannot be ignored in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice (Wagner et al., 2009) and has thus become a concern for management scholars (Cho and Lee, 2019). Using smartPLS, based on attribution theory, this paper takes 28 Chinese listed enterprises as examples to explore the influence of CSR motivation on its communication and implementation, as well as the impact of CSR implementation and promotion on consumers’ perception of corporate hypocrisy. The research finds a negative correlation between value-driven motivation and corporate hypocrisy and a positive correlation of performance-driven motivation and stakeholder-driven motivation with corporate hypocrisy. The theoretical contribution of this paper is mainly reflected in the following four aspects. (1) It describes the scale of CSR implementation research and enriches the measurement tools of CSR implementation. (2) It enriches and expands research results in the field of CSR motivation perception. From the perspective of CSR and attribution theory, this study explores the influence of consumers’ perception of CSR motivation on CSR communication and CSR implementation. (3) It supplements research results in the field of corporate hypocrisy. The influence of CSR communication and CSR implementation on corporate hypocrisy is clarified. (4) It clarifies the impact of CSR communication on CSR implementation so as to help enterprises better match CSR communication strategy and CSR implementation in practice and reduce consumers’ perception of corporate hypocrisy. It is suggested that enterprises find their own positioning on CSR motivation, which provides a reference with which enterprises can make better decisions on CSR communication strategy after implementing CSR behavior and provides empirical evidence for the research on CSR motivation perception and corporate hypocrisy in China.

Highlights

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a different kind of responsibility to legal and economic responsibilities; the goal of CSR is to pursue the enterprise’s business activities whilst having a positive impact on social development (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001)
Based on these questions and on attribution theory, this study explores the relationship between perceived CSR motivation and CSR implementation and communication and the impact of CSR implementation and communication on consumers’ perceptions of corporate hypocrisy
This study focuses on the impact of CSR motivation perception on corporate hypocrisy

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a different kind of responsibility to legal and economic responsibilities; the goal of CSR is to pursue the enterprise’s business activities whilst having a positive impact on social development (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). Morsing (2017) found that CSR communication seems to be a "double-edged sword" that may arouse the suspicion of stakeholders It can indirectly stimulate CSR action, becoming an effective driving force for CSR implementation. There are few studies exploring the impact of consumer CSR motivation perception on CSR communication and implementation. Since real motivation is embedded in the decision-making process of enterprises and cannot be directly measured and evaluated, this paper attempts to study the customer perception and evaluation of CSR activities from the perspective of public perception and attribution. It measures CSR motivation and corporate hypocrisy through consumer perception. There is a positive correlation between CSR communication and CSR implementation, and CSR communication is positively correlated with corporate hypocrisy

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DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT