Community Institutions and Initial Diffusion of Corporate Social Responsibility Practices in China's Banking Industry
研究中国银行业2006-2011年CSR报告的早期采纳，发现银行所在社区已有CSR报告或相关指南会促使其率先行动，且银行在当地经营时长会调节这种影响。
ABSTRACT The existing literature does not provide adequate insight into the initial diffusion of new management practices, especially those that yield no immediate economic benefits, and have not yet gained legitimacy. We study how firms’ local institutional environments influence early adoption behavior, examining the spread of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports in China's banking industry from 2006 to 2011. We find that banks are more likely to be first movers of CSR reporting if they operate in communities where more companies publish CSR reports or where there are guidelines encouraging CSR reporting, and the impacts of these two institutional factors are further moderated by the length of time that banks have operated in communities. Our study highlights the usefulness of institutional theory in understanding the initial adoption of new management practices, when the organizational field is defined as a geographic community instead of an industry sector and its supply chain.