International Aspects of Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Performance of Chinese Listed Firms: Moderating Effect of Organizational Slack

In recent years, corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become important issues for the survival and growth of firms. Extensive research has investigated the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and corporate social performance (CSP). However, despite the significant contributions, there has been a lack of understanding of how governance structures affect social performance in non-western context; most of studies only focus on the contexts of US- or European-based firms. This study attempts to fill the void and answers the questions of (1) how CG internationalization (international experience of board members and foreign ownership) affect corporate social performance (CSP) and (2) how organizational slack (absorbed and unabsorbed) moderates these relationships. Based on a sample of 259 Chinese listed firms, our results show that international experience of board members and foreign ownership have positive effects on CSP. We also found that organizational slack negatively moderates these relationships.