AUTHOR=Xia Jiahui , Wu Zhanchi , Dang Zhaolan , Zhang Rui 

TITLE=Hometown attachment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from overseas Chinese entrepreneurs

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.943701

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.943701

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The relationship between hometown attachment (HA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a topic to be explored in depth. We measure the HA by the Chinese diaspora background and immigrant culture of the ultimate controllers of the firm and employ the sample of Chinese non-financial private listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2003 to 2019 to investigate the impact of the HA of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs on CSR. We find that the HA of overseas Chinese ultimate controller significantly increases the level of CSR, and this promoting effect rises when the firm ultimately held by the overseas Chinese entrepreneur is registered in the expatriate hometown. Our further analysis find that the personal characteristics of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and regional cultural differences have a moderating effect on the above relationship. In particular, we find that overseas Chinese entrepreneurs who are female or with lower academic qualifications have stronger sense of CSR. Moreover, in areas with low marketization or a high level of social trust, HA of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs plays a more active role in CSR. The results remain robust after robustness test and endogenous test. The conclusion of this paper not only highlights the impact of psychological factors on the level of CSR, but also provides a reference for the study of the decision-making behavior of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs.