Chinese managers' cognition of corporate social responsibility: an empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is viewed in the Chinese situation. The paper views CSR as an endogenous motivation for corporate social behaviour. The intended contributions of this paper are twofold. On the one hand, the authors intend to collect first‐hand data to understand the current status of Chinese managers' cognitions of CSR. On the other hand the paper intends to analyse the differences which exist in managers' cognitions on CSR among different kinds of firms in a Chinese context. Design/methodology/approach – A random survey was conducted among 157 businessmen using the force‐choice questionnaire, based on the four‐part construct proposed by Carroll. The confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to test the construct validity of Carroll's conceptual model with the data sample drawn from Chinese situation. Then correlation, six pairwise t‐tests and MANOVA test were conducted for the purpose of this study. Findings – Chinese managers' cognition of CSR is found to be consistent with the four‐component construct. A relatively strong preference toward economic component has been examined. The results present a significant negative correlation between economic cognition and all three of its non‐economic counterparts. No significant cognitive differences have been verified between firms with different characteristics. Research limitations/implications – This paper initially examined the cognition of Chinese managers toward CSR. Chinese managers are viewed as having an important role in decision making on social issues. However, how to promote the managers' cognition of CSR is needed for future research which will also examine the internal driving mechanism of CSR. Originality/value – There has not been a great deal of empirical research done in the field of social responsibility in China. This study is a starting point for those who seek to understand the economic and sociological aspects of mainland Chinese business.