Business-government Interdependence, Government Salience and Corporate Social Responsibility Intention

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 23. Research on Work

Abstract

Stakeholder pressure, especially from government, is widely discussed to be associated with firm’s corporate social performance. This might ignores the reciprocity of power and finer mechanism is veiled. Applying resource dependence theory, we propose that interdependence with local government, rather than one-sided government pressure, as emphasized by previous Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature, influences firm’s intention to engage in community-oriented CSR. By combining and developing stakeholder salience theory, we further maintain that such relationship is moderated by the urgency of claims by local government and government salience relative to other stakeholders. Using a nationwide survey data of manufacturing firms in China, we find that firm’s dependence on local government increases firm’s intention to engage in local CSR; this effect is stronger in economic responsibility, the more urgent claim by local government. Local government’s dependence on firm is negatively associated with firm’s CSR intention, but this effect is stronger in environmental responsibility, the less urgent claim by local government. Besides, lower local government salience relative to pollution-related stakeholders weakens the interdependence-environmental responsibility relationships.

Authors

• Weixing Lyu, Peking University

• Xuanli Xie, Peking University

• Yi Han, Peking University