Explore the Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility Implemented by E-Commerce Platforms in China During the Early Stage of COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Content Analysis

Abstract

Objectives: To explore (a) the approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented by e-commerce platforms in China during the early stage of COVID-19 (ESCOVID-19) and; (b) the factors associated with the platforms’ choice of these approaches. Methods: We collected the CSR data from the Internet during ESCOVID-19. Conventional content analysis was used to develop the targeted approaches. Finally, based on the frequency analysis of each approach, rank-based nonparametric testing was conducted to answer objective (b). Results: Three main approaches (i.e., donative CSR actions, responsive CSR actions, and strategic CSR actions) and eight sub approaches were implemented. The strategic approach was the most frequently used approach. The platforms with higher market size implemented more donative and strategic CSR actions than the platforms with lower market size did. Donative CSR actions were significantly implemented in the earlier period, while strategic CSR actions were significantly implemented in the later period. Conclusions: Our research highlights the importance of e-commerce platforms to help the public survive and identifies that market size and time were associated with the platforms’ CSR choice. The design of prevention and control policies should incorporate and support e-commerce platforms and evaluate the factors when confronting future public health crises.

A humanistic model of corporate social responsibility in e-commerce with high-tech support in the artificial intelligence economy

“…That is why, an improvement in the quantitative characteristics of HRM, in particular, an increase in the number of jobs, is undesirable or even unattainable in e-commerce. A more preferable alternative is an increase in the quality of HRM, which stimulates humanization of corporate social responsibility—in this case, labor efficiency is improved, the quality of service is raised, customers’ loyalty grows, and the volume of sales and revenues of e-commerce companies takes place, while their expenditures for personnel remain unchanged (Vuong and Bui, 2023 ; Zhang et al, 2023 ). Thanks to this, the humanization of corporate social responsibility in e-commerce is characterized by high effectiveness not only from the social but also from the financial and economic position.…”

“…In their turn, Zhang et al ( 2023 ) noted the increased role and proved the anti-crisis effect of the corporate social responsibility practices, which were implemented by e-commerce platforms in China at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wang and Yang ( 2021 ) proved that corporate social responsibility makes rural consumers change their attitude toward e-commerce and start using it actively, preferring it to offline purchases in the markets of dynamically developing countries.…”

From crisis to responsibility: The role of industry type, leadership style, and regulatory environment in shaping post-COVID-19 CSR initiative

“…The awareness of management for the achievement of organizational goals is the way forward to success in organizational performance. The stable working of an organization for the sustainability of the environment is the way forward to achieving organizational goals for environmental sustainability [ 12 ]. The regulations of the government used for advancement of organizational work can become better strategies to improve organizational performance productively.…”

“…Furthermore, Hsiao, Jiang [ 11 ] reported that the advanced working of the organization sector and improved performance of employees with efficiency can be a way forward to achieve sustainability in the environment. Many firms are working to advance their performance to achieve organizational sustainability which is necessary for the productive performance of organizations [ 12 , 13 ]. Firm performance for environmental sustainability depends on different factors, and organizational sustainability is also one of these factors [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Socioemotional wealth of family firms during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of slack resources

“…By acting as a buffer for organisational adaptation, slack has been used to absorb the environmental variation and disruption caused by COVID-19 (Li, 2021). CSR activities represent one of the most important means of addressing the problems caused by COVID-19 (Zhang et al, 2021). Previous studies have identified that slack resources are allocated to CSR activities and companies with more slack resources are more inclined to conduct CSR (Shahzad et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2022).…”