Is corporate governance quality associated with corporate social responsibility quality?: Evidence from state-owned enterprises (SOES) and non-SOES operating in China

Recent developments in the Chinese capital market have increased the demand for corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure by listed firms. However, compared to the developed world, China has a short history of CSR. Further, Chinese firms generally have immature corporate governance systems. This thesis examines the relationship between corporate governance and CSR in two different types of Chinese firms, namely, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs). Based on stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory, this thesis hypothesises that corporate governance had a positive relationship with firm CSR quality, that this positive relationship is greater for SOEs than for non-SOEs, and finally that the positive relationship among Chinese firms' CSR quality and corporate governance quality is higher for SOEs operating in heavy industries that for non-SOEs operating in those industries. The hypotheses are mainly tested by ordinary least squares regression analysis. The sample for this thesis comes from the Top 100 CSR index firms from the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges. Overall, the thesis finds that CSR quality is positively associated with corporate governance quality, and that the positive relationship between Chinese firms' CSR quality and corporate governance quality is higher for SOEs operating in heavy industries than for non-SOEs operating in those industries. However, the thesis finds no general support for the hypothesis that Chinese firms' CSR quality is higher for SOEs than for non-SOEs -- abstract.