| Paradox strategic cognition and ECSR: A three-tripod perspective |
Received:October 11, 2017 Revised:October 11, 2017 |
Key Words: Competitive intensity; Environment corporate social responsibility; Industrial power; Legal incompleteness; Paradox strategic cognition |
| Author Name | Affiliation | | Xi Song* | Xi’an Jiaotong University | | Zelong Wei | Xi’an Jiaotong University |
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Abstract: |
| Extant literature offers conflict views on why firms pursue environment corporate social responsibility (ECSR). One stream of literature rooted in institutional theory argues that firms invest in ECSR because of external legal pressure. On the contrary, the other stream of literature rooted in stakeholder theory suggests firms are intrinsically motivated to engage in ECSR to develop relationship with stakeholders. This conflict derives in their different assumption on the relationship between ECSR and financial performance. However, there is little effort to explore how firms really interpret the relationship between financial goals and CSR, which is determined by strategic cognition. This study investigates how paradox strategic cognition affects ECSR and how the effect varies with institutional environment (e.g., legal incompleteness), competitive environment (e.g., competitive intensity), and internal capability (e.g., industrial power). Drawing on paradox theory, strategic cognition perspective, and strategic tripod perspective, four hypotheses were proposed and examined with data from 206 manufacturing firms in China. This study finds that paradox strategic cognition has a positive effect on ECSR. Furthermore, legal incompleteness, competitive intensity, and industrial power all weaken the positive effect of paradox strategic cognition on ECSR. |
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