Legitimizing Sustainability Through Harmony And Trust: How The Chinese Young Professional Understands CSR

Currently, China is experiencing environmental whiplash and societal stress as the past decade’s record breaking economic growth has seriously affected the sustainability of the country as a whole. Beyond dangerous levels of smog and labor disputes, the country’s reputation for product quality and production lines faces a great deal of skepticism from foreigner and domestic business. Recognizing these issues and facing pressures from external organizations, the Chinese Central Government and corporations have increased their awareness of and regulations concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, even with these powerful motivators, the role of the society and consumer must not be overlooked. In fact, Organizational Legitimacy theory (OL) suggests that the corporation, which undertakes and demonstrates a host of shared values with society, will be accepted and trusted by their stakeholders. In this way, by incorporating the values of society into business plans and communicating this narrative, a corporation can achieve sustainability in identity as well as in profit.Using the conceptual framework of OL and applying it to CSR in China, this research project aims to better understand how to make CSR a significant element in the Chinese business-consumer relationship. Through an interview methodology, and grounded in CSR literature of Carroll (1991), this project qualitatively assesses how the Chinese young adult population identifies a ’responsible’ corporation and what responsibilities such an identity entails. The second primary research question attends to the reporting of CSR activities, so to understand if social media is a legitimate vehicle for the communication. The findings of this report suggest that Chinese young professionals believe a responsible corporation not only ethical but also an active assister in society. The value supporting this identity is ’harmony,’ which is one of the key components of Confucian philosophy, and describes relationships in which parties will sacrifice and coordinate to achieve a greater happiness. In terms of the second research question of reporting CSR over social media, this paper has no definitive findings but implores further research into the issue. In fact, while the potential effectiveness of WeChat to share CSR information is still unclear, the interviewee’s underfed interest in CSR and the great extent to which they trust corporations that share CSR, suggest that CSR information is a juggernaut for the corporation seeking sustainability of name and bottom-line in China. In this way, this research concludes by imploring further research to analyze effective means to reach the Chinese audience, who not only want more CSR reporting but who will also respond positively to such messaging and campaigns.