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Will the Governance of Non-State Shareholders Inhibit Corporate Social Responsibility Performance? Evidence from the Mixed-Ownership Reform of China’s State-Owned Enterprises

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  • Rongwu Zhang

    (School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yanzhen Lin

    (School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yingxu Kuang

    (School of Business Administration, University of Houston-Victoria, Victoria, TX 77901, USA)

Abstract

Fulfilling social responsibilities in order to sustain development has increasingly become a strategic choice for companies. Good corporate governance can guarantee high corporate social responsibility performance. This paper selects state-owned enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-Share market from 2013 to 2019 as samples and uses a panel data OLS regression model to empirically test the impact of the governance of non-state shareholders on the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises from two aspects of shareholding: structure and high-level governance. The results show that, first, the governance of non-state shareholders helps to improve the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises; second, that mechanism analysis indicates that non-state shareholders improve the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises by improving the internal control quality; and third, the impact of the governance of non-state shareholders on the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises is heterogeneous in three aspects: the degree of marketization, the level of product market competition, and the corporate profitability. This paper not only helps to clarify the factors which influence the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises, but also enriches studies on the economic consequences brought by non-state shareholders through participating in the governance of state-owned enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Rongwu Zhang & Yanzhen Lin & Yingxu Kuang, 2022. "Will the Governance of Non-State Shareholders Inhibit Corporate Social Responsibility Performance? Evidence from the Mixed-Ownership Reform of China’s State-Owned Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-26, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:1:p:527-:d:717479
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mark P. Sharfman & Chitru S. Fernando, 2008. "Environmental risk management and the cost of capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 569-592, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiao Guan & Chunli Yao & Weimin Zhang, 2023. "Sustainability of Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Study on the Impact Path of Corporate Social Responsibility Based on Internal Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Fusheng Xie & Peixiang Yang, 2023. "Research on the Impact of Mixed Reform of State-Owned Enterprises on Enterprise Performance—Based on PSM-DID Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    3. Wang, Kaike & Zhang, Xin & Wang, Shuhong, 2024. "Blockchain technology concerns and corporate financial risk prevention—A quasi-natural experiment for Chinese listed A-share companies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1496-1512.
    4. Wenjun Su & Xiaohui Zhao, 2025. "The impact of common institutional ownership on green innovation of China’s energy firms," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, December.
    5. Tian, Zongtao & Chen, Zhibin & Chang, Xinxue, 2024. "Directors appointed by non-state shareholders and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from Chinese SOEs," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Yan, Lina & Ling, Xuan & Wang, Zhitao & Xu, Yinuo, 2023. "Can mixed-ownership reform boost the digital transformation of state-owned enterprises?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 647-663.

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