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Social responsibility and reflexivity for co‐operative goals with government units in C hina
Author(s) -
Wong Alfred,
Snell Robin,
Tjosvold Dean
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7941.12070
Subject(s) - reflexivity , government (linguistics) , competition (biology) , china , corporate social responsibility , business , public relations , business ethics , social responsibility , function (biology) , marketing , sociology , political science , ecology , social science , linguistics , philosophy , evolutionary biology , law , biology
Prior research on co‐operation and competition has established that co‐operative goal relationships with government units are beneficial to business enterprises operating in C hina. We report a quantitative study, conducted in S hanghai and based on 119 paired responses by government officials and business managers, which sought to establish the antecedents of co‐operative business–government goal relationships. We found that business enterprises in C hina that were represented by managers with favorable attitudes toward ethics and social responsibility were considered by government officials as more inclined to engage in reflexivity, i.e. to hold open discussions with them about organizational objectives and procedures, with a view to mutual adjustment and improvement. Greater reflexivity was, in turn, more likely to lead to business–government relationships based on co‐operative rather than independent or competitive goals. Given the considerable importance of business–government relationships in C hina, these findings imply that concern for corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) may be advantageous for firms there, and we discuss how the HRM function may contribute to development of suitable CSR policies, projects and practices, to greater reflexivity, and to the increased likelihood of establishing co‐operative goals.