The diffusion of corporate social responsibility through social network ties: From the perspective of strategic imitation

Hailiang Zou, Xuemei Xie, Xiaohua Meng and Mengyu Yang

Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2019, vol. 26, issue 1, 186-198

Abstract: Drawing on institutional and organizational learning theories, this study empirically investigates the imitation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) between firms tied by board interlocks, an important type of corporate social network tie. We propose a positive relationship between the CSR engagement of a focal firm and that of its tied‐to partners and examine how this relationship is moderated by the characteristics of both the focal and tied‐to firms. Using a sample of Chinese‐listed companies, empirical evidence is provided to show that a firm's engagement in symbolic CSR is in a positive relationship with that of its tied‐to partners; this relationship becomes stronger for smaller firms and those facing high uncertainty. Furthermore, when firms are linked to smaller firms, this relationship becomes more prominent. Our findings contribute to the CSR and social network literature, as well as the research on strategic imitation. Finally, implications for business management and government policy are discussed.

Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1670

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:corsem:v:26:y:2019:i:1:p:186-198

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().