Institutional Forces Affecting Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior of the Chinese Food Industry

Food safety problems in China, such as deadly tainted milk, have attracted growing attention from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective. To examine the forces that potentially drive CSR behavior within the Chinese food industry, our study is organized as follows. First, a review is conducted on the unique history of CSR in China as well as some of the major Chinese food scandals that have taken place. The primary drivers of CSR in China that have been suggested in the literature are then summarized. Next, new institutional theory perspectives are drawn upon to analyze three forces that potentially affect the behavior of Chinese firms: (a) coercive isomorphism, (b) mimetic processes, and (c) normative pressures. Based on a questionnaire survey of 164 Chinese managers and employees, the CSR behavior of firms operating in the Chinese food industry is found to only be significantly affected by the institutional factor of normative pressures. The study concludes with its limitations as well as the implications of the findings.