Whose Call to Answer: Institutional Complexity and Firms’ CSR Reporting
研究中国上市公司在中央与地方政府对CSR报告要求冲突时，如何通过早期采纳但低质量报告来应对制度复杂性，对理解政企关系和CSR实践有参考价值。
While research on the disclosure of CSR (corporate social responsibility) recognizes the influence of government regulations and guidelines, less attention has been given to the co-existence of conflicting pressures from the state. We develop a framework wherein CSR reporting is viewed as an organizational response to institutional complexity that arises from the conflicting demands from the central government and local governments, and apply it to publicly listed firms in China after the central government agencies issued guidelines on CSR reporting. Some provincial governments’ high priority given to short-term GDP growth created tension with the central government’s expectations on CSR reporting. Firms with attributes that increase scrutiny from both institutional constituencies experienced heightened tension, and they responded with early adoption but low-quality reports. Our framework was supported through a longitudinal analysis between 2008 and 2011. Our study contributes to the literature on CSR disclosure by uncovering the impact of conflicting government pressures, and advances research on institutional complexity by identifying a specific decoupling response.