Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

This study examines whether the chief executive officer’s poverty experience has an impact on firms’ corporate social responsibility. We find that firms’ CSR performance increases with CEOs’ poverty experience; specifically, firms with CEOs who experienced early-life poverty are associated with more socially responsible activities and fewer socially irresponsible activities, such as on-the-job consumption, and are more associated with key stakeholder-related rather than community-related CSR. We further find that the positive relationship between the CEO’s poverty experience and CSR strengthens for well-educated (...) or powerful CEOs. Our evidence is consistent with our conjecture that CEOs who experienced early-life poverty have stronger compassion and prosocial psychology. Consequently, these CEOs are more willing to make long-term investments in socially beneficial activities, leading to better CSR performance, which further confirms the altruistic motivation of CSR. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to identify China’s indigenous conceptual dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to increase the knowledge and comprehension about CSR in specific context. We conducted an inductive analysis of CSR in China based on an open-ended survey of 630 CEOs and business owners in 12 provinces (municipalities) in China. In the survey, we collected CSR sample responses. After examining the qualitative data, we identified nine dimensions of CSR, among which six dimensions are similar to (...) their western counterparts; however, the other three dimensions were never mentioned in previous literature, which mostly study the cases in the western world. In addition, two of the widely accepted CSR dimensions in the western world have no embodiments in China. A comparative study of CSR between China and western countries also unveiled some unique dimensions of CSR in China. In conclusion, CSR manifested in China is different from that in western countries, and China’s CSR is closely related to its social and cultural background. (shrink)

To explore the motivations underpinning corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions in China, a country characterized by extensive government intervention, this paper investigates whether building a good relationship with the government is a political incentive that is driving firms to conduct CSR by examining the effects of political connections on the latter. Our results indicate that politically connected firms exhibit better CSR. However, the effect is considerably more significant for firms with existing political relationships. Additionally, findings show that the effect is (...) more prominent in firms for which political connections are more valuable, namely, non‐state‐owned enterprises, small firms, and firms operating in less market‐oriented cities, indicating that CSR can serve as a differentiation strategy to compete against other bidders. Dividing CSR activities into economic, environmental and social aspects, we find that the social‐based activities are more likely to be driven by political motivations. By categorizing CSR and political connections, this paper not only expands the scope of political CSR and renders the generated results that have been mixed together more distinguishable, but also provides a more precise understanding of the fundamental drivers of CSR in China from the perspective of resource exchange. (shrink)

This study explores the relationship between individual birthplace [rural birthplace (RB) and urban birthplace (UB)] and consumer unethical behavior (CUB). As a result, CUB is verified to closely relate to individual birthplace, and those new urban residents with RB are found to behave more ethically than the patrimonial urban residents with UB in CUB4 (“no harm/no foul”). This study also finds that the differentiation of CUB between two categories of consumers is correlated with the personal moral ideology or Machiavellianism (MA) (...) functioning with varying degree, which idealism ideology is a main variable impacting on the unethical behaviors of the members born in the rural subculture while MA for those in the urban one. Additionally, the “no harm/no foul” (CUB4) and the “actively benefiting from a questionable action” (CUB3) in the list of CUBs are found to be more efficient in discriminating the two groups than the other two kinds, the “passively benefiting at the expense of others” (CUB2) and the “actively benefiting from an illegal activity” (CUB1). The results shed light on the roles of individual birthplace in influencing CUB and contribute to a better understanding on the effects of subculture on CUB. (shrink)

Based on the challenge-hindrance stressor model, this study explored the mechanism of how challenge/hindrance demands affect cognitive wellbeing on a daily basis. Specifically, we examined the mediating effect of work–family enrichment on the relationship between challenge/hindrance demands and cognitive wellbeing. In addition, we tested the moderating effect of overqualification on the relationship between challenge/hindrance demands and work–family enrichment on a daily basis. Finally, we examined the moderated mediation effect of perceived overqualification in a multilevel model. To capture changes in work–family (...) enrichment and cognitive wellbeing that individuals perceived daily, the experience sampling method was adopted to test our theoretical models. A total of 99 participants from China were involved in this investigation. The results showed that daily challenge demands had a significant positive effect on daily cognitive wellbeing, and daily hindrance demands had a significant negative effect on wellbeing. In addition, daily work–family enrichment mediated the positive relationship between daily challenge demands and daily cognitive wellbeing. Moreover, perceived overqualification moderated the relationship between daily challenge demands and daily cognitive wellbeing in the multilevel model. Finally, a significant moderated mediating effect of this overqualification on the indirect effect of daily work–family enrichment on the relationship between daily challenge demands and daily cognitive wellbeing was observed. (shrink)

Microbial fuel cell is a renewable clean energy. Microorganisms are used as catalysts to convert the chemical energy of organic matter in the sewage into electrical energy to realize sewage treatment and recover energy at the same time. It has good development prospects. However, the output power of MFC is affected by many factors, and it is difficult to achieve a stable voltage output. For the control-oriented single-chamber MFC, a fuzzy integral sliding mode control is designed. The continuous adjustment of (...) the sliding surface ensures that the system only moves on the sliding surface, which eliminates the arrival stage and improves robustness. For chattering existing in the system, the control scheme is further optimized to obtain fuzzy integral sliding mode control, and the fuzzy module adaptively adjusts the control parameters according to the system state, which effectively reduces the system chattering. Experiments prove that the control scheme reduces chattering while ensuring the stable output of the system. (shrink)

Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory and social exchange theory, we examined the effects of family supportive supervisor behavior and family support on work absorption at the within- and between-person levels. A 10-day study of 91 workers using 710 observations was employed. At the within-person level, the results suggested that daily relaxation at work mediated the relationships between daily FS, daily shifts in FS, and daily work absorption. However, at the between-person level, the results revealed that chronic relaxation at (...) work mediated the relation between the average level of FSSB/FS and chronic work absorption. We conclude that FSSB/FS plays a vital role in relaxation at work and work absorption at the within- and between-person levels. (shrink)