STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

116 pagesThis dissertation examines how different political processes within and outside organizations influence corporate social responsibility. Specifically, I examine how internal corporate political strategies and external political uncertainty dynamics affect an organization’s corporate charitable donations. This first empirical chapter examines the impact of an organization’s political connection strategies and political embeddedness strategies on donations. Using a unique nationwide longitudinal survey dataset of Chinese entrepreneurs, I theoretically differentiate between traditional political connections (which may be transactional) and political embeddedness (which is deeper and continent on individual backgrounds) and show how they affect corporate charitable donations differently: political connection strategies (which include entrepreneurs’ political appointments and political liaisons) have positive effects; whereas political embeddedness strategies (which includes entrepreneurs’ political membership and political participation), have a negative influence. Meanwhile, the positive effects are weaker and the negative ones are stronger as the level of institutional development increases. The second empirical study argues that firms strategically employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) to manage political uncertainty from a resource dependence perspective. This study provides a nuanced distinction of political uncertainty by examining the turnover of city government leaders, including their promotion (which indicates a favorable political environment), retirement (a smooth political transition) and demotion (which suggests adverse political environment). Then, this research explores how these factors affect corporate philanthropic donations in different ways, which are used as a political strategy to alleviate resource dependence. Political favorability and smooth political transition are associated with less resource dependence and thus lower amount of donations, whereas the opposite applies to political adversity. In addition, the negative effects of promotion and retirement on the amount of donation are weaker and the positive effect of demotion on donation is reduced as the level of institutional development increases. Overall, my dissertation provides a broader understanding of CSR from the perspective of both internal and external political processes. Such examinations enrich the previous literature on corporate political activities and resource dependence theory by highlighting the strategic tools available for organizations to align with the environment in a dynamic but inexpensive manner