Abstract
This study examines the influence of Confucianism on corporate poverty alleviation (PA) participation. We argue that firms in regions with more Confucian temples are more likely to participate in government-initiated PA programs because Confucianism emphasizes common social welfare. This positive relationship is stronger for firms with chief executive officers born in Confucian regions and for firms that are under high media pressure, as the trade-off between social welfare and firm interest is in favor of Confucianism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms, we find evidence supporting our arguments. Moreover, we find consistent evidence that firms influenced by Confucianism are motivated to pay long-term attention to PA activities and improve corporate PA efficiency, highlighting the substantive role of Confucianism in a PA campaign. Our study contributes to the business ethics literature by introducing Confucianism into research on corporate social activities and provides practical implications.
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Notes
Confucianism developed different systems over its history, including Pre-Qin Confucianism (先秦儒學) and Song Ming Confucianism (宋明儒學) (Ming, 2007; Shen, 2014). It is useful to note that our theoretical development is rooted in the Pre-Qin Confucianism. We thank an anonymous reviewer for helping us to define the scope of our study.
We also conducted additional tests using a reduced sample excluding special treatment firms (ST/*ST) firms that contained 11,700 firm-year observations. All empirical results were consistent with the sample containing ST/*ST companies. ST refers to listed companies with two consecutive years of net loss while *ST refers to listed companies with three consecutive years of net loss.
We thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Variable Definitions
Variables | Definition |
|---|---|
Dependent variable | |
LnPA | The natural logarithm of the total amount of poverty alleviation investment plus one |
Variables of interest | |
LnCONF_200 | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian temples within a 200-km radius around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnCONF_300 | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian temples within a 300-km radius around a firm’s registered address plus one |
CEO_CONF | A dummy variable takes the value of 1 when a firm’s CEO was born in one of the seven Confucian centers in China, including Qufu of Shandong Province, Luoyang of Henan Province, Chengdu of Sichuan Province, Sanming and Longyan of Fujian Province, Dongtai of Jiangsu Province, Ningbo and Shaoxing of Zhejiang Province, and Linchuan of Jiangxi Province, and 0 otherwise |
LnNegMedia | The natural logarithm of the number of firm negative news articles plus one |
Control variables | |
LnFirm_Age | The natural logarithm of age of firm establishment |
LnFirm_Size | The natural logarithm of revenues |
ROA | The net income divided by total assets |
LEV | The ratio of the firm’s total debt to assets |
SOE | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm is a state-owned firm, otherwise it is 0 |
LHR | The shareholding percentage of the largest shareholder |
Board_Size | The number of board members |
Board_Indep | The percentage of independent directors on the board |
CEO_Gender | A dummy variable, where it equals 1 if the firm has a male CEO, and 0 if the CEO is female |
CEO_Degree | A four-point scale to indicate the level of CEO education, of which secondary school degree and below = 1, junior college degree = 2, undergraduate degree = 3, postgraduate degree and above = 4 |
Market | Fan gang marketization index |
Others | |
RDLS | The relief degree of land surface in the provinces of China |
LnCONF_100 | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian temples within a 100-km radius around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnCEO_Temp | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucius temples in the CEO’s birthplace at province level plus one |
LnCEO_Acad | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian academies in the CEO’s birthplace at province level plus one |
LnAcad_200 | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian academies within a radius of 200 km around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnAcad_300 | The natural logarithm of the number of Confucian academies within a radius of 300 km around a firm’s registered address plus one |
PA_Dum | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm participates in poverty alleviation campaign, and otherwise it is 0 |
Openness to foreign culture | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm is registered in special economic zones or coastal open cities, such as Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Xiamen, Hainan, Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, Beihai and Yingkou, and otherwise it is 0 |
Per_GDP | Per capita GDP, the province’s GDP at the end of each year divided by the population (in CNY 10,000 per capita) |
Population_density | Resident population divided by the size of the area at city level (in 10,000 people per square kilometer) |
LnTAO_200 | The natural logarithm of the number of Taoist temples within a 200-km radius around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnTAO_300 | The natural logarithm of the number of Taoist temples within a 200-km radius around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnBUD_200 | The natural logarithm of the number of Buddhist monasteries within a radius of 200 km around a firm’s registered address plus one |
LnBUD_300 | The natural logarithm of the number of Buddhist monasteries within a radius of 200 km around a firm’s registered address plus one |
CN_PA | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm has a follow-up poverty alleviation plan, and otherwise it is 0 |
EFF_PA | The natural logarithm of the number of poor people that the firm helped out of poverty plus one |
Year FE | Dummy variables for years |
Industry FE | Dummy variables for industries |
City FE | Dummy variables for cities |
Appendix 2: Sample Firm Distribution by Cities with Stronger Foreign Cultural Influences
City | Number of firms | Percentage of all firms (%) |
|---|---|---|
Shenzhen | 259 | 8.00 |
Zhuhai | 28 | 0.86 |
Shantou | 32 | 0.99 |
Xiamen | 44 | 1.36 |
Hainan | 26 | 0.80 |
Dalian | 25 | 0.77 |
Qinhuangdao | 3 | 0.09 |
Tianjin | 48 | 1.48 |
Yantai | 27 | 0.83 |
Qingdao | 21 | 0.65 |
Lianyungang | 6 | 0.19 |
Nantong | 28 | 0.86 |
Shanghai | 253 | 7.82 |
Ningbo | 63 | 1.95 |
Wenzhou | 16 | 0.49 |
Fuzhou | 38 | 1.17 |
Guangzhou | 94 | 2.90 |
Zhanjiang | 2 | 0.06 |
Beihai | 5 | 0.15 |
Yingkou | 2 | 0.06 |
Total | 1020 | 31.48 |
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Huang, M., Li, X., Xia, J. et al. Does Confucianism Prompt Firms to Participate in Poverty Alleviation Campaigns?. J Bus Ethics 189, 743–762 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05565-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05565-z