On The Behavior Of Corporate Social Responsibility: Dimensions, Determinants, And Impact On Business Performance

China has made great progress in economy since the beginning of reform and opening up. During the period, however, the developments of economy and society have come more and more out of balance. The interests of businesses are running counter to society's interests, which triggered the debates on the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The rising social expectation and the gap between it and reality make the issue urgent. The expanding social costs of business development and internationalization of CSR movement make the urgency doubled. Both the developing and developed countries pay great attention to such a crucial issue. CSR is receiving attention of broader scope, higher level, and more intensity than ever before. Scholars and practical managers are keen to see the solution of the problem.It seems that theoretical research on CSR goes behind CSR practice. On the whole, the existed researches on CSR can be classified into three categories. They are normal, descriptive/empirical, and strategic, which answer the question of why, what, and how, respectively. In the early period of CSR research, the "why" question dominated the area. The last decades saw a transformation of the mainstream of international CSR research from "why" to "how" which describe the status quo, determinants, and social consequences of CSR behaviors. Besides, research on "how" started in the 1970's. However, the "what" research lent little support to the research of "how". Domestic researches on CSR mainly deal with "why" in general, lagging far behind international researches. Either to follow international mainstream or to improve domestic research and practice, the following questions are ready to be systematically studied: what characteristics do the behaviors of CSR (CSRB) present? What are the determinants of CSRB? How do the CSRB affect business performance?By integrating normative and empirical analysis processes, this dissertation tries to explore the presence, determinants, and business consequence of CSRB. The following three parts are the main work of this dissertation.(1) Obtaining adequate data by depth interviews and questionnaires28 firms and other organizations were investigated during 6 months, most of which locate in Zhejiang and Shandong, the two provinces of East China. We interviewed senior managers of firms, NGO, and professors of College and Universities. By integrating results from the reviews and literatures, three surveys were performed stage by stage. At last, we obtained 59 responses of Questionnaire A, 46 responses of Questionnaire B, and 347 responses of Questionnaire C for further analysis, after deleting unusable ones.(2) Constructing the conceptual and analytical framework based on stakeholder theory, focusing on the behavioral process of CSR.Based on previous researches, this dissertation summarizes the knowledge body of CSR. Focusing on the business behavior, an analytical framework of "determinants-behaviors-impacts" was established. According to the framework, a three-dimension model of CSRB was put forward first. Then 7 determinants were identified from the individual, organizational, and social layers. Finally, the dissertation explored the impacts of CSRB on business performance.(3) Revealing the characteristics of CSRB by empirical analysisBased on normative analysis, the dissertation uses SEM, one-way ANOVA, Factor Analysis and regression to analyze survey data to describe CSRB. Main conclusions are as follows.First, CSRB is a three-dimension construct. The dimensions are responsibility to insiders, responsibility to outside business partners, and responsibility to the public (CSRINSD, CSRBUSI, and CSRPUBL respectively, there after).CSRINSD encompasses responsibilities to stockholders, managers and employees. CSRBUSI includes responsibilities to creditors, suppliers, distributors, and consumers. CSRPUBL covers responsibilities to governments, environments, and communities. On the whole, CSRBUSI is demonstrated best, with responsibilities to consumers and creditors performing well, and CSRPUBL is displayed the second best, with responsibilities to communities and environments performing comparatively not well, and CSRINSD is the worst, with responsibilities to stockholders performing badly. CSRB changes prominently with business size expanding, but not evenly. Also, CSRBUSI goes up as a business grows from the existence stage to the maturity stage, but goes down while entering the renascence stage. CSRPUBL rises only during the existence stage and does not change during the following stages. CSRBUSI performs better than CSRINSD and CSRPBUL all through the stages of the whole life cycle of the businesses. CSRB varies with industries because of the "imprinting". Corporations perform CSRBUSI better in modern manufacturing industries and traditional service sector than in traditional manufacturing industries. However, businesses perform CSRBUSI worse in modern service sector than in modern manufacturing industries. There are no important difference in all three dimensions of CSRB between State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs.Second, CSRB is influenced by individual, organizational, and social factors simultaneously. Mangers' CSR attitudes, last year's business performance (LYBP), and governmental responsiveness are prominent determinants on the three levels, respectively. LYBP is the most powerful one of the three, governmental responsiveness is the second most powerful, and Mangers' CSR attitudes are the weakest. Each determinant works on the dimensions in different intensity. LYBP generates the greatest influence on CSRINSD, followed by the influence on CSRPUBL and CSRBUSI. For governmental responsiveness, the influential order is CSRBUSI, CSRINSD, and CSRPUBL. For managers' CSR attitudes, the influence on CSRINSD ranks the first, and CSRBUSI and CSRPUBL second and third, respectively. Such control variables as business size, growth stages, and industries can also prominently affect CSRB.Third, the CSP-CFP relationship is moderated by various situations. The whole sample analysis suggests that there is no prominent relationship between CSP and CFP. However, the sub samples analyses demonstrate that there is. To be concrete, the CSRBUSI of large businesses can prominently promote their short term business performance, while CSRPUBL of businesses in maturity stage can positively affect their long term performance. Besides, whether LYBP can be controlled can determine which result will occur. So the existed researches which claimed a prominent CSP-CFP link without controlling the effects of LYBP are ready to be questioned.Compare to former studies, the following aspects are unique points of this dissertation:(1) This dissertation constructed a three-dimension model of CSRB based on stakeholder theory, focusing on business behavior, and this model was supported by empirical analysis. Similar constructs existed before. However, Most of them are characterized by some limitations and drawbacks: First, they are often lack of a firm theoretical basis and depend only on cognitive thinking; second, they usually employ a mix of criteria to identify dimensions and result in confusion; third, they are not supported by empirical evidence. Based on this model, a measurement instrument for key informant perception was developed and showed sound credibility and validity.(2) This dissertation proved that there are no prominent differences in CSRB between SOEs and non-SOEs. Some researchers and the public tend to make the judgments that the CSRBs of SOEs are better than those of non-SOEs. They made a mistake, unfortunately, because most non-SOEs are Small-and-Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and most SMEs existed with a non-SOEs identity. The effects of capital ? structure on CSRB compounds with those of business size. The cognitive idea that SOEs perform better in CSR than non-SOEs virtually reflects the fact that large firms perform better than SMEs.(3) This dissertation identified and verified the determinants of CSRB at three levels. Existed researches on CSRB determinants are scarce and usually scattered on only one individual level. To get a systematic structure of the determinants, an environmental analysis method was borrowed from strategic management. It was verified that CSRB is indeed affected by factors from all three levels, which are Mangers' CSR attitudes, last year's business performance (LYBP), and governmental responsiveness. However, they exert influences on the three dimensions with different power.(4) This dissertation proved that the CSP-CFP link was moderated by situations. This supposition was quite new and seldom empirically tested before. It was confirmed by this dissertation. What is more, the lagging effect of LYBP dominates the final results. If it was not effectively controlled, a mistaken conclusion may be reached.Though the CSR area has been explored for about a century, no agreement has been reached on a stable and united concept system and theoretical framework. This dissertation tried to put forward a partial framework. For the restriction of data, time, and ability of the author, there are still some limitations. Further research may attach great importance to identify new determinants, explore mechanism of the influencing process, and find other situations moderating CSP-CFP link.