earticle

영어

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the prevalence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, with a growing number of enterprises assuming this practice. However, many enterprises show inconsistent CSR behaviours with distinctions between internal and external stakeholders. Some scholars have investigated the antecedents of a firm’s CSR inconsistency behaviours from the perspectives of organisational features, external pressures and CEO characteristics. However, few studies have considered the influence of negative attainment discrepancy. Based on the behavioural theory of the firm, a firm’s previous performance influences its future strategy. If an enterprise’s performance falls below its expectation, does this phenomenon encourage the enterprise’s CSR inconsistency behaviour? Based on data from Chinese listed companies, this paper draws the following conclusions: First, negative attainment discrepancy will increase a firm’s CSR inconsistency behaviour, which means that when a firm’s performance falls below expectations, its behaviour is frequently marked by a propensity for high-risk endeavours and the pursuit of increased resources. Consequently, the firm will invest more in external social responsibility than in internal social responsibility in such a situation. Second, the impact of negative attainment discrepancy on CSR inconsistency is moderated by senior executives’ party membership identity. The sense of fairness and rules embedded inside the party members will mitigate the positive impact of negative attainment discrepancy on CSR inconsistency. Third, the impact of the negative attainment discrepancy on CSR inconsistency is moderated by the nature of the firm’s ownership. Specifically, the positive impact of negative attainment discrepancy on CSR inconsistency is weaker for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), mainly because their unique social goals and political background reduce their motivation for risky behaviours and their demands for scarce resources. This paper explores a firm’s corporate social responsibility strategy under negative attainment discrepancy from the perspective of internal and external inconsistencies. It not only contributes to the development of the behavioural theory of the firm, but also broadens research perspectives of a firm’s non-market strategy in the corporate social responsibility field.