Korean CSRs in China: Firm Characteristics

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of Korean firms that conducting CSR in Chinese market. This paper divides CSR into two types: reactive CSR and proactive CSR. In this study, the influence of firm characteristic on firm’s motivation to conduct CSR activities was discussed. Based on the analysis of firm characteristic, the study tested which CSR theory can make a greater prediction that what kind of firms will do greater CSR. Empirical analysis was conducted based on survey data collected from 153 Korean foreign subsidiaries in China. This paper also tried to managemental implications for Korean firms’ global CSR strategy. The results indicated that some of firm characteristics (parent firm size, size of sales, size of employment and brand strength) significantly influence corporate social responsibility activities in Korean firms. As a firm with large parent firm, large sales, many employees or strong brands, the managers should pay attention to CSR activities which are helpful. Other characteristics (size of employment, ownership pattern, performance) do not show significant influence on CSR as expected. Besides, the results showed that reactive CSR has a better predictive power than proactive CSR.