Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

CSR in China Research: Salience, Focus and Nature

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article investigates the development of research in the field of CSR in China. The justification for this is that (i) there is evidence that CSR is emerging as a management practice and management field internationally; (ii) there is a general interest in the distinctiveness or comparability of management and management research in Asia and China; (iii) there is evidence that CSR is growing as a management issue in China; and (iv) yet, the mainsprings of this are very different from those in Western business systems. This article adopts a methodology used in wider analysis of CSR in management research (Lockett et al., Journal of Management Studies 43, 2006, 115) to bring forth comparisons over the salience, focus and nature of CSR in China research. It finds a rapidly growing salience of CSR in China research, albeit from a low base. It parallels Lockett et al.’s (2006) finding of a ‘thickening’ of CSR research focus from early concerns with Ethical issues only to greater attention to Social, Environmental and Stakeholder concerns. It also generally parallels Lockett et al.’s (2006) findings on the balance of research methodologies deployed. The significance of the findings for future CSR research in China is considered both for the notion of a CSR field of research and for our understanding of the development of CSR in China.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bowen, H. R. (1953). The Social Responsibilities of the Businessman. New York: Harper and Row

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruton, G. and Lau, C.M. (2008). ‘Asian Management Research: Status Today and Future Outlook’. Journal of Management Research, 45, 3, 636 – 659

    Google Scholar 

  • Busenitz, L et al. (2003). ‘Entrepreneurship research in emergence: past trends and future directions’. Journal of Management, 29, 3, 285 – 308

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. B. (1999). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct’. Business and Society 38: 268-295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. B. (2008). ‘The History of Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts and Practices’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapple, W. and J. Moon: 2005, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia: A Seven Country Study of CSR Website Reporting’, Business and Society 44(4), 415–441

  • China Entrepreneurs Survey System (2007). Corporate Social Responsibility in the Eyes of Entrepreneurs. Beijing: China Machine Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, A., A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon and D. Siegel: 2008a, ‘The CSR Agenda’, in A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon and D. Siegel (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility (Oxford University Press, Oxford)

  • Crane, A, Matten, D and Moon, J. (2008). Corporations and Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlsrud, A. (2008). ‘How Corporate Social Responsibility is Defined: an Analysis of 37 Definitions’. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15, 1, 1 -13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bakker, G.A., Groenwegen, P. and Den Hond, F. (2005). ‘A Bibliometric Analysis of 30 years of Research and Theory on Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Performance’. Buisness and Society, 44, 3, 281 – 317

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. and Powell, P. (1983). ‘The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields’. American Sociological Review 48: 147-160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enderle, G. (1997). ‘A worldwide survey of business ethics in the 1990 s’. Journal of Business Ethics, 16, 1475-1483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fombrun, C.J. and Pan, M. (2006). ‘Corporate Reputations in China: How Do Consumer Feel About Companies?’. Corporate Reputation Review, 9, 3, 165-170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1970). ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’. New York Times Review 13 September 1970, 32 – 33, 124 – 126

    Google Scholar 

  • Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Mapping the Conceptual Territory’. Journal of Business Ethics, 53: 51-71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, Y.Q. (2007). ‘Dealing with Non-market Stakeholders in the International Market: Case Studies of US-Based Multinational Enterprises in China’. Singapore Management Review, 29, 2, 75-88

    Google Scholar 

  • Gond, J.-P. and A. Crane: 2008, ‘Corporate Social Performance Disoriented: Saving the Lost Paradigm?’, Business and Society. doi: 10.1177/0007650308315510

  • Gond, J.-P. and D. Matten: 2007, ‘Rethinking The Corporation-Society Interface: Beyond the Functionalist Trapp’. ICCSR Research Paper Series 47, University of Nottingham

  • Habisch, A., Jonker, J., Wegner, M., & Schmidpeter, R. eds.(2005). Corporate social responsibility across Europe. New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanlon, G. (2008). ‘Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of the Firm- on the Denial of Politics’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertz, N. (2001). The Silent Takeover. London: Arrow

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, X.L. and Gardner, S. (2007). ‘A Stakeholder View of Strategic Management in Chinese Firms’. International Journal of Business Studies, 15, 2, 1-13

    Google Scholar 

  • Ip, P.K. (2008) ‘The Challenge of Developing a Business Ethics in China’. Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 211 - 224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones Christensen, L., Peirce, E., Hartman, L. P., Hoffman, W. M., & Carrier, J. (2007). ‘Ethics, CSR, and sustainability education in the Financial Times top 50 global business schools: Baseline data and future research directions’. Journal of Business Ethics, 73, 347-368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurucz, E., Colbert, B. and Wheeler, D. (2008). ‘The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility’, In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, M. A.: 2008, ‘China’s CSR Expectations Mature’, China Business Review. November–December 2008

  • Levy, D. L. and R. Kaplan (2008). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Theories of Global Governance’, in A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon and D. Siegel (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. and Tsui, A. (2002). ‘A Citation Analysis of Management and Organization Research in the Chinese Context: 1984-1999’. Journal of Management Studies 19, 1, 87–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Ling, L. L. and W. D. Zhu: 2008, An Analysis on Corporate Social Responsibility Report: Evidences from Chinese Listed companies’, in Y. Zhang (ed.) Proceedings of the 2nd Euro-Asia conference on environment and corporate social responsibility (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Berlin)

  • Li,Y.H. (2004). SA8000与中国企业社会责任建设.SA8000 and Construction of Social Responsibility of Chinese Enterprise. Beijing: China Economic Publishing House

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y.H. (2008). Plenary discussion. UNNC CSR Round table UNNC Shanghai Office, Shanghai, China

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockett, A and McWilliams, A (2005) ‘The balance of trade between disciplines: do we effectively manage knowledge?’. Journal of Management Inquiry 4 (2) 139–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockett, A., Moon, J. and Visser, W. (2006). ‘Corporate social responsibility in management research: focus, nature, salience and source of influence’. Journal of Management Studies,43, 1, 115-136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney, J. (1990). Teaching business ethics in the UK, Europe and the USA: A comparative study. Athlone, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Matten, D. and Moon, J. (2004). ‘Corporate social responsibility education in Europe’. Journal of Business Ethics, 54, 323-337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matten and Moon, J. (2008). ‘“Implicit” and “Explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility’. Academy of Management Review 33(2): 404 - 424

    Google Scholar 

  • McGuire, J. (1963). Business and Society. New York: McGrow-Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, A., Siegel, D.S., Wright, P.M. (2006). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications’. Journal of Management Studies 43, 1, 1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot, G. (2001). The Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain. London: Pan

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon, J., Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2005). ‘Can Corporations be Citizens? Corporate Citizenship as a Metaphor for Business Participation in Society’. Business Ethics Quarterly 15, 3, 427–451

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon, J., Kang, N. and Gond, J-P. (2010). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Government’, in D. Coen, W. Grant and G. Wilson (Eds), Oxford Handbook of Business and Government, USA: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon, J. and Vogel, D. (2008). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility, Government and Civil Society’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Muijen, H. S. C. A. (2004). ‘Corporate social responsibility starts at university’. Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 235-246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlitzky, M. and J. Moon: 2008, ‘CSR Education in Europe’. ICCSR Research Paper Series 51, Nottingham University Business School

  • Owen, D.L. and O’Dwyer, B. (2008). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: the Reporting and Assurance Dimension’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasquero, J.: 2004, ‘Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises: Les Approches Nords-Américaines’, in J. Igalens (ed.) Tous Responsable (Editions d’Organisation, Paris)

  • Peng, M. et al. (2001). ‘Treasures in the China House: A review of management and organizational research on Greater China’. Journal of Business Research, 52, 95–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. (1993). ‘Barriers to the advance of organizational science: Paradigm development as a dependent variable’. Academy of Management Review, 18, 4, 599-620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrerer, A.G. and Palazzo, G. (2008). ‘Globalization and Corporate social responsibility’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence, L. (2000). ‘Teaching business ethics: Are there differences within Europe, and is there a European difference?’. Business Ethics: A European Review, 9, 1, 58-64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, E. (2000). Just Business: Business Ethics in Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, D. and Fisher, D (2008) Advancing Business Ethics Education. Information Age Publishing

    Google Scholar 

  • Tam, O.K. (2002). ‘Ethical Issues in the Evolution of Corporate Governance in China’. Journal of Business Ethics 37, 3, 303–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Marrewijk, M. (2003). ‘Concepts and Definitions of CSR and Corporate Sustainability: between agency and communion’. Journal of Business Ethics 44, 95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visser, W (2008) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries’. In: A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang,Y.G. et al. (2006). ‘The Roles of Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation in CRM: A Chinese Study’. Corporate Reputation Review, 9, 3, 179-197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickerham, J. and S. Zadek: 2008, China’s Responsibility Standards Accountability www.accountability21.net

  • Williams, C.A. and Aguilera, R.V (2008) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Comparative Perspective’. In: A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Windsor, D. (2008). ‘Educating for responsible management’. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. Siegel (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Yaziji, M. and Doh, J. (2009). NGOs and Corporations: Conflict and Collaboration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Young, N. and MaCrae, P. (2002). ‘Three “C”s: Civil Society, Corporate Social responsibility and China’. China Business Review, 29, 1, 34–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, K. H. (2006). China as the World Factory. Routledge: UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, W. D.: 2006, Will CSR work in China? http://www.syntao.com/Uploads/{2AA69E62-FD51-4925-803A29E979EFF2AF}_2006_Summer.pdf. Accessed on 12 May 2007

  • Zsolnai, L. ed. (1998). The European difference: Business ethics in the community of European management schools. Boston: Kluwer

    Google Scholar 

  • Zu, L.: 2006, Socially Responsible Restructuring and Firm’s Performance: Evidence from Chinese Enterprises PhD Thesis, Nottingham University Business School

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support for this research from the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, the Centre for Global Finance, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and the China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham. They are also grateful to Sue Bishop and Richard Pascoe for their support for this research, and to the Journal reviewers for their helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, U.K.

    Jeremy Moon

  2. University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, Ningbo, China

    Xi Shen

Authors
  1. Jeremy Moon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xi Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeremy Moon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moon, J., Shen, X. CSR in China Research: Salience, Focus and Nature. J Bus Ethics 94, 613–629 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0341-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0341-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation