Taking social responsibilities overseas? The learning paths and performance consequences of Chinese multinationals

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been seen as an effective strategy that emerging market multinational enterprises increasingly adopt in order to cope with the liability of origin, yet much less attention has been paid to the micro-foundations of such a strategy. It remains less explored as to how CSR is leveraged by individuals—that is, expatriates. Addressing this research gap, a total of 150 valid survey responses from 38 Chinese multinationals were tested using the structural equation modeling technique. The results show that expatriates’ cross-cultural competence and engagement in CSR facilitate the learning efficiency of subsidiaries. The findings also suggest that expatriates’ effort positively mediates the relationship between CSR and performance outcomes (at both individual level and organizational level). Embracing the micro-foundations perspective in CSR research, this study offers both theoretical and practical implications for future international management research.

Expatriate adjustment and subsidiary performance: a motivation-hygiene perspective

“…Compared with developed country MNEs, EMNEs are recognized as global market latecomers who lack international experience and competitive advantages (Fan et al, 2016). To enhance subsidiary performance, EMNEs need to use expatriates to obtain competencies and facilitate knowledge transfer (Wu and Fan, 2021). Our findings suggest that EMNEs' provision of support for their expatriates' adjustment and their family members' relocation can lead to better subsidiary performance.…”

“…, 2016). To enhance subsidiary performance, EMNEs need to use expatriates to obtain competencies and facilitate knowledge transfer (Wu and Fan, 2021). Our findings suggest that EMNEs' provision of support for their expatriates' adjustment and their family members' relocation can lead to better subsidiary performance.…”

“…Originating in fast-transitioning economies, EMNEs are firms from emerging economies that increasingly engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) but suffer from inherent competitive disadvantages in global markets due to lack of international experience and liability of country of origin (Fan et al, 2016;Zhu, 2019). To work around the liabilities and improve subsidiary performance, EMNEs are increasingly sending expatriates overseas to facilitate the completion of international assignments (Wu and Fan, 2021;Zhang et al, 2020;Zhu, 2019). Yet EMNE expatriates generally lack cross-cultural competence, which causes them to face adjustment obstacles in new work environments (Wang et al, 2014).…”

“…Yet existing studies that solely focus on either intrinsic or extrinsic factors may lead to some critical facets being neglected (Deci et al, 2017;Gong et al, 2017), which results in a lack of consensus on the antecedents of expatriate adjustment. Moreover, studies on expatriate adjustment mainly discuss the individuals' work performance, but neglect subsidiary-level outcomes Wu and Fan, 2021). Findings on the outcomes of expatriate adjustment are also mostly based on advanced economy MNEs and the generalizability of these findings in the EMNE context is questionable Zhao et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, studies on expatriate adjustment mainly discuss the individuals' work performance, but neglect subsidiary-level outcomes (Fan et al. , 2021; Wu and Fan, 2021). Findings on the outcomes of expatriate adjustment are also mostly based on advanced economy MNEs and the generalizability of these findings in the EMNE context is questionable (Fan et al.…”