Corporate social responsibility and performance: A study of a Chinese industrial development zone

This study was exploratory in nature; it was one of the first to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions and firm performance in China. The authors undertook a questionnaire survey of firms located in the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Sichuan Province, China, in order to establish the link between managers' perception of their firms' adoption of corporate social responsibility and of their firm performance. Factor analysis demonstrated that the CSR activities or attributes adopted by firms could be grouped into three orientations: employee and consumer interests, community involvement, and disclosure. The 256 respondent firms were then categorized into three groups based on their factor analysis scores: Group 1, a disclosure-oriented group; Group 2, an employee and consumer oriented-group; and Group 3, a communityoriented group. The firm performance for the three groups was then compared: group 3 had higher levels of assessment for both financial and non-financial performance. The authors suggest three possible explanations for these findings. The uncertainty the causation link between adoption of community CSR attributes and higher financial performance complicates recommendations for Chinese firms' adoption of CSR attributes.