Towards a Confucian CSR: Reimagining Corporate Social Responsibility from a Chinese Philosophical Perspective

Although many companies have made efforts to adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR), the notion of CSR is confined by philosophical assumptions and concepts. How then might Chinese companies express their CSR set within a Chinese culture influenced by Confucian philosophy? This research aims to explore the possibility of a Confucian CSR model. Instead of replacing the current prevailing instrumental CSR, this Confucian CSR model intends to complement the weakness of the Western instrumental CSR model by implementing three conditions, namely, the exemplary CEO, a supportive environment, and an ethical education based on Confucian principles of benevolence (ren 仁) and righteousness (yi 義). The construction of Confucian CSR has three steps: Firstly, through an exploration of Confucian philosophy, this research clarifies the value system and ethical teaching of Confucian philosophy, which provides a theoretical foundation for the discussion of the Confucian corporation and its specific form of CSR. Secondly, by comparing the differences of current CSR reports between Chinese companies and US companies, this research examines the characteristics of Chinese CSR reports and performance and finds out to what extent they are impacted by Confucian philosophy. Finally, this research compares Confucian principles with the principles of Western instrumental CSR. Through the comparison, the people-centred and harmony-oriented Confucian CSR model is built in contrast to the profit-centred competitive CSR model. From a practical perspective, the outline of the implementation of Confucian CSR is provided at both the national level and corporate level. In addition, this research also provides recommendations for the corresponding CSR reporting. To conclude, based on the integration of Confucian wisdom with the worldwide development of CSR, this research may not only contribute to the CSR development in China but also can shed light on CSR development in the world.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

dprof

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Cui, Xuefeng

• BJ Moeseg

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:2111