An Empirical Research On The Effect Of State-owned Enterprises’ CSR Performance On Financial Performance

In the early1920s, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was put forward in western developed countries, but in our country, the CSR arose lately in the1990s. Although the study on CSR in China is relatively backward, the accelerated steps of economic globalization and the continuous improvement of modern enterprise system have attached great importance to the development of CSR theory and practice in our country. The research in this article is based on the specificity of China’s national conditions, embarking from the motivation of our country’s state-owned enterprises to fulfill social responsibility, trying to prove that the causal path and mechanism between financial performance and social responsibility performance is more complicated in state-owned enterprises. After combing the pertinent literature, the initial hypotheses are put forward, the subsequent data collection and empirical tests eventually show the full and intrinsic relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance in the state-owned enterprises.The first chapter:introduction. By combing the pertinent literature, we can draw a conclusion that the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance is such a complex research field that with great practical significance. This article puts forward its research topic in the background of the special institutional environment in our country and the controversial research conclusions. By emphasis on the nature of the state-owned property right, it demonstrates the significance of research from an unique perspective. The empirical methods are introduced, the basic research framework of this article is set up and the theoretical, practical, methodological contribution is arranged in the last of this chapter.The second chapter:literature review. Three parts to review and comment in this chapter are arranged as follow:the normative research and empirical research on the relationship between corporate social responsibility performance and financial performance, the status and economic consequences of the state-owned CSR. Existing normative research provides a rich and solid theoretical foundation to empirical research, the defects of the existing empirical researches indicate the direction of a more scientific and rigorous research. Through the status and economic consequences of the state-owned CSR, the differences caused by different natures of the property rights in CSR’economic consequences are realized, which also should be further convinced, in order to fill the blank in this research field.The third chapter:the theoretical analysis and the research hypothesis. This article is written based on western economics and practical circumstances in our country, the economic motivation and non-economic motivation are deeply analyzed in order to clear the CSR decision-making mechanism in different corporates. According to the social impact theory and positive synergy hypothesis, hypothesisl and2are put forward; according to the low efficiency of the financial performance of state-owned CSR due to the non-economic motivation, hypothesis3is proposed.The fourth chapter:empirical research design. The data used in this article is from CSMAR database and domestic RUNLING global CSR rating data, with a total sample size of696. In order to meet the needs of research, moderated variable is applied in the multivariate linear regression equation models, Further, in order to make research conclusion stronger and deeper, path analysis is built with other auxiliary theoretical analysis.The fifth chapter:the empirical results and analysis. First of all, the results of multiple linear regression tests verify the hypothesis1, hypothesis2and hypothesis3, supporting the main research conclusions of this paper:performing the social responsibility of listed companies improves the financial performance of enterprises. Furthermore, financial performance by fulfilling CSR is affected by the nature of property rights, the non-economic motivation of state-owned enterprises will weaken the positive financial performance. Secondly, path analysis clearly shows the low efficiency problem of state-owned enterprises, which is not conducted by the CSR as its mediation, but through the enterprise scale conductive to reduce the enterprise economic benefit.The sixth chapter:policy suggestions, study limitations and future research prospects. Combining the empirical research results with the institutional background of state-owned enterprises in China, this article puts forward suggestions from the government institutional aspect and state-owned enterprises’ internal decision-making aspect. Research limitations in the variables selection, sample segmentation and theoretical basis of economics are indicated, the development direction of future research in this field is finally conceived ofThe main contributions:First of all. the practical contribution of this article is based on the nature of property rights, probing the relationship between the state-owned CSR and financial performance, providing the CSR decision-making in state-owned enterprises with empirical basis.Secondly, the theoretical contribution of this paper is that the economic motivation and non-economic motivation of the state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises to fulfill the CSR motives are compared, elaborating the economic motivation in the perspective of cost benefit analysis, non-economic motivation in the perspective of the agency problem and government intervention. At the same time, this article explores internal governance mechanism of decision-making of CSR with a more rigorous theoretical foundation and a clear conceptual framework. Finally, the empirical research results lay a foundation to the further research on the internal mechanism of state-owned enterprises CSR decisions. Vacancies on the related literature are filled. Finally, the article explores on research methods, the existing research on state-owned CSR mainly concentrated in the theory discussion, lack of large sample archival research. This article is not limited to theories, combines the system and the economic status quo in the study design, introduces the moderated variables, and multivariate linear regression equation model is constructed to verify the proposed hypothesis; to make further research conclusion, path analysis with structural equation model is applied to make the research conclusion more robust and deep.The limitations of this article:This article selects the MCT CSR indexes, which makes it possible for the deviation to exist under the impression management. It should be avoided in the future research as a more objective and accurate CSR scoring system is established to ensure the reliability of the research results with large sample scale instead of measurement error.Secondly, operating and non-operating state-owned enterprises are not distinguished in this article. However, some scholars hold the view that there is a big difference between operating and non-operating state-owned enterprises in the nature and the goal, which may have certain influence on the motivation of CSR. The further study should take it into consideration if possible.Finally, the article fails to analyze the state-owned CSR motivation to the traditional economics level, such as the contractual issues in the state-owned enterprises, allowing the article to have more profound economic support.