No abstract

This article analyzes the effects of firms’ founding ownership in shaping their corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China. Drawing on a nationwide survey of 1,037 representative manufacturing firms in 12 cities, we specify the imprinting effects of firms’ founding ownership on labor and environmental protections, two important CSR practices. Our results show that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) founded during the state socialist period, regardless of their restructuring experience in the market reform era, continued to implement pro-labor practices. Moreover, even the SOEs founded in the market reform era provided better labor protection than non-SOEs founded during the same time. In contrast, the founding imprints of environmentalism in the reform era for non-SOEs, especially the de novo private firms, explain why they spent more than SOEs in environmental protection. We extend the organizational imprinting theory by highlighting the importance of firms’ founding ownership imprints and in shaping their current CSR performance.

Drawing on a survey of randomly selected firms from 12 representative Chinese cities, we analyze the differences between Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs in their organizational welfare practices. We apply the organizational imprinting theory to explain these differences. The institutional environment during the firms' founding period has a lasting effect on their current practices. Only the most significant changes in the institutional environment weaken the organizational imprinting effect. By focusing our analyses on Chinese SOEs, this research enriches and extends the organizational imprinting theory and its implications to a transitional economy. In addition, our research has managerial and policy implications for managing Chinese SOEs in a changing domestic and global environment.

No abstract