To Donate or Not to Donate? Evidence from Chinese Firm's Corporate Giving to Earthquake Relief

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the influence of Chinese companies’ corporate giving to disasters on firm performance. Past research on Chinese firms’ corporate philanthropy has mostly focused on the firms that are listed on the Chinese stock exchanges. In this thesis, I extend this line of research to cross-listed Chinese firms. I use internationalization theories, in particular, institutional theory, to explain the different motivations of the companies and their employees who donated. Based on the data of Chinese firms’ donations to disasters from 2008 to 2013, I find that private firms could enjoy a better financial return than state-owned firms (SOEs). Also, cross-listed firms should consider donating cash if their giving motivation is profit-driven.

Date of Award	13 Feb 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Wai Keung John LEUNG (Supervisor) & Chung Leung LUK (Supervisor)