公司使用企业社会责任(CSR)披露来传达其社会和环境政策,实践,以及对利益相关者的表现。虽然企业社会责任活动的决定因素和结果是众所周知的,我们对公司如何使用CSR沟通来管理危机知之甚少。少数相关的企业社会责任研究集中在政府对公司施加的压力上,客户,媒体,或公众。尽管投资者对公司价值有重大影响,这一利益相关者群体在企业社会责任披露研究中一直被忽视。以合法性理论和代理理论为基础,本研究以在上海证券交易所上市的中国上市公司为样本,调查企业社会责任披露,以回应投资者发布的社交媒体批评。实证结果表明,投资者的社交媒体批评不仅激励公司披露他们的企业社会责任活动,而且增加了他们的企业社会责任报告的实质性。这表明公司应对危机的企业社会责任沟通是实质性的,而不仅仅是象征性的。我们还发现,社交媒体批评对企业社会责任披露的影响是异质的。非国有企业,环境法规水平高的地区的公司,和地方政府关注社会问题的地区的公司最有可能披露企业社会责任信息并报告实质性的企业社会责任活动。我们对企业CSR危机管理策略进行了深入分析,并表明投资者在社交媒体上发起的危机为企业提供了改善其CSR参与的机会。
Companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures to communicate their social and environmental policies, practices, and performance to stakeholders. Although the determinants and outcomes of CSR activities are well understood, we know little about how companies use CSR communication to manage a crisis. The few relevant CSR studies have focused on the pressure on corporations exerted by governments, customers, the media, or the public. Although investors have a significant influence on firm value, this stakeholder group has been neglected in research on CSR disclosure. Grounded in legitimacy theory and agency theory, this study uses a sample of Chinese public companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate CSR disclosure in response to social media criticism posted by investors. The empirical findings show that investors\' social media criticism not only motivates companies to disclose their CSR activities but also increases the substantiveness of their CSR reports, demonstrating that companies\' CSR communication in response to a crisis is substantive rather than merely symbolic. We also find that the impact of social media criticism on CSR disclosure is heterogeneous. Non-state-owned enterprises, companies in regions with high levels of environmental regulations, and companies in regions with local government concern about social issues are most likely to disclose CSR information and report substantive CSR activities. We provide an in-depth analysis of corporate CSR strategies for crisis management and show that crises initiated by investors on social media provide opportunities for corporations to improve their CSR engagement.