The impact of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism on CSR practices in family businesses in China

This study investigates the impact of Chinese traditional culture on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in family businesses in China. Chinese traditional culture is captured by Confucianism, Taoism, or Buddhism. Multiple regression analysis was run on a panel dataset of CSR spending of family firms listed on Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China for the period from 2008 to 2019, measured by R&D spending, staff expenditure, revenue, and cash donations. The empirical results show that family businesses with Buddhist and Taoist cultures invest more in R&D, better fulfilling quality responsibility. Family firms advocating Buddhism make more cash donations, taking more philanthropic responsibility. However, traditional cultures do not have statistically significant effects on employee responsibility and financial responsibility. The mcain contribution of this paper is to encourage family firms in China to adopt CSR practices suitable to the culture it advocates.