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Board interlock and the diffusion of corporate social responsibility among Chinese listed firms

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Abstract

This study explores the effect of board interlock on the diffusion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among firms. While existing CSR literature has theorized a variety of institutional and organizational factors that drive CSR, what is lacking is a deeper understanding of how meso-level inter-firm relationships shape firms’ CSR. Using a series of pairwise regressions to examine Chinese listed firms’ CSR activities from 2008 to 2015, we find that board interlock leads to a higher probability of CSR adoption in both firms, and convergence of CSR structures. This interlock effect is however conditioned by some institutional and firm-level factors that enhance/impede the exchange of information between interlocked firms. This study contributes to the CSR literature by filling the theoretical gap on a meso-level mechanism of CSR diffusion and provides some managerial implications for corporate executives who are responsible for designing firms’ social programs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Wenjing Xie and seminar participants at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for their insights and helpful comments. Haoyuan Ding acknowledges the financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71703086). Xiyi Yang acknowledges the financial support from ShanghaiTech University Faculty Research Startup Fund (No. F-0204-16-002). Xiaoyu Zhou acknowledges the financial support from ShanghaiTech University Faculty Research Startup Fund (No. F-0204-14-002). Authors contributed equally to this manuscript, and the order of authors is alphabetical.

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  1. College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China

    Haoyuan Ding

  2. Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Yichuan Hu

  3. School of Entrepreneurship and Management, ShanghaiTech University, 393 Middle Huaxia Rd., Shanghai, 201210, China

    Xiyi Yang & Xiaoyu Zhou

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  1. Haoyuan Ding
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Appendix

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Table 8 Variable Definitions
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Table 9 Robustness Check: More Stringent Fixed Effects
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Table 10 Covariates Tests between the Group of Firms with Board-interlock and the Matched Sample
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Ding, H., Hu, Y., Yang, X. et al. Board interlock and the diffusion of corporate social responsibility among Chinese listed firms. Asia Pac J Manag 39, 1287–1320 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-021-09767-9

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