Corporate Social Responsibility with Chinese Characteristics: Institutional Embeddedness, Political Logic, and Comparative Theoretical Perspective

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China has evolved from reproducing Western-centric frameworks to engaging with the institutional and political particularities that shape how CSR is reconfigured and practiced. Yet few studies have critically reviewed this growing body of literature to capture the core characteristics and mechanisms of state-corporate coordination in China. This paper fills this gap by reviewing 112 peer-reviewed English-language studies published between 2007 and 2025, synthesizing how CSR in China is conceptualized, embedded, and operationalized across cultural, economic, political, and global dimensions. This review identifies three institutional logics structuring Chinese CSR: (1) moral–cultural framing rooted in Confucian ethics and socialist collectivism; (2) economic coordination under state-led capitalism and selective neoliberalism; and (3) political signaling through Party-state governance and legitimacy negotiation. It also outlines six major research themes—CSR as a legitimacy strategy, CSR reporting, CSR in Chinese multinational enterprises, CSR’s link to financial performance, environmental CSR, and civil CSR—highlighting the mechanisms underlying each. Findings show that CSR in China is different from the managerial-stakeholder framework (e.g., explicit/implicit CSR, pyramid model or integrative model). Instead, it operates as an adaptive political technology within state-led capitalism, reinforcing moral legitimacy and political conformity as firms—especially SOEs and politically connected private enterprises—align with state-defined priorities. Through a comparative perspective, this review demonstrates how China’s CSR model fundamentally recalibrates corporate agency toward political negotiation rather than stakeholder responsiveness, offering a distinct configuration that challenges the presumed universality of Western CSR theories.