Regional Anti-Corruption and CSR Disclosure in a Transition Economy: The Contingent Effects of Ownership and Political Connection

Shiwei Xu,Peng Tong,Mingzhe Qiao,Bin Che

doi:10.3390/su11092499

Abstract

Based on the empirical data of China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market, this paper examined the impact of regional anti-corruption intensity on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. The results indicate that (1) regional anti-corruption intensity has a significant positive effect on firms’ CSR disclosure; (2) through the grouping test based on the ownership of firms, it was found that the positive effect of anti-corruption intensity on CSR disclosure in the sample of non-state-owned enterprises was more significant and positive than that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs); and (3) through the grouping test of whether or not the enterprises had political connections, the positive effect of regional anti-corruption intensity on CSR disclosure was stronger and more significant in firms with political connections (relative to those with no or weak political connections). This paper sheds light on the research into anti-corruption policies by linking government macro policy and enterprises’ micro social economic behaviors, and it provides empirical evidence for this linkage. This paper also contributes to organizational legitimacy theory and CSR theory by probing the impact of anti-corruption policies on firms’ CSR disclosure. At the same time, the effects of two contingency factors (ownership and political connection) also provide some practical implications to the relevant government departments by: (1) speeding up the market-oriented reform of state-owned enterprises including clarifying the boundaries of authority and responsibility between SOEs and the government, and conducting the de-administration of managers of SOEs; and (2) encouraging firms to focus on market competition and be more socially responsible, instead of speculating with political rents.

Highlights

Global sustainable development cannot be separated from the participation of enterprises
This paper makes the following contributions to the literature: (1) Our research revealed that anti-corruption actions are an important influencing factor on firms’ disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a transition economy, which might enrich the knowledge in the field of CSR
The influencing factors of CSR information disclosure have been widely discussed in the literature, but most of them have focused on the internal factors of firms

Summary

Introduction

Global sustainable development cannot be separated from the participation of enterprises. As the largest developing country, the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted much attention in China. On the one hand, paying attention to CSR can help corporations to develop sustainably, and strengthen their long-term survivability [1]. Scholars have carried out exploratory and complementary studies on the influencing factors of firms’ (voluntary) disclosure of CSR information. These studies have mainly focused on firm size, debt, market value, CEO characteristics, board structure, and so on [5,6,7], and covered various factors [8], there are controversial conclusions on these factors [6]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion