Research On The Influencing Factors Of Listed Banks' Social Responsibility

Social responsibility has been widespread concerned in theory and practice since the concept of social responsibility first proposed by Oliver Sheldon in 1924. Listed banks fulfillment of social responsibility is of great significance for financial stability, sustainable and healthy development of society and economy, transformation of industrial structure and enhancing the competitiveness of China's banking industry. However, in recent years, news frequently reported that listed banks failed to effectively fulfill their social responsibility to shareholders, employees, customers, governments and environments. We can not help but ask how can we to promote listed banks do a better social responsibility? Through analysing data of China's 15 listed banks from 2008 to 2013, the author probes into the impact of corporate governance on listed banks'social responsibility.The author combines the Chinese institutional context and gives full consideration to the special nature of the banking corporate governance. First, this paper theoretically analyzed the impact of various dimensions of corporate governance on listed banks'social responsibility. Based on this, the author puts forward empirical research hypotheses. Then, based on stakeholder theory, the author builds a set of evaluation system to measure China's listed banks fulfillment of social responsibility. Finally, through analysing data of China's 15 listed banks from 2008 to 2013, the author probes into the impact of various internal and external corporate governance factors on listed banks'social responsibility. The results indicated that the ownership of state exhibited no direct relationship with listed banks'social responsibility in the short term, yet in the long run the relationship is negative. The shareholding proportion of the biggest shareholder and the second to the fifth largest shareholder are negatively related to listed banks'social responsibility. There is a "conspiracy" effect between minority shareholders and the largest shareholder of banks. Board size impacts negatively on listed banks'social responsibility. Board meeting frequency and independent director exhibited no direct relationship with listed banks' social responsibility. When the president of bank serves as vice chairman, listed banks will take fewer social responsibilities. The cash-based top-management compensation mechanism is more beneficial for listed banks to undertake social responsibility than stock-based compensation mechanism. Government intervention has negative effects on listed banks'social responsibility. The increasing level of the rule of law will urge listed banks to undertake more social responsibilities. The impact of the level of the rule of law on listed banks' social responsibility is more significant than government intervention. External supervisors as a relatively independent oversight mechanism are conducive to safeguarding the interests of stakeholders and promoting listed banks to take on social responsibility. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper puts forward the corresponding suggestions to improve China's listed banks fulfillment of social responsibility.