Corporate Social Responsibility in Emerging Markets: The Importance of the Governance Environment

This study examines how country-level, industry-level, and firm-level factors affect the extent of corporate communications about CSR in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). In particular, using data from the 105 largest MNCs in BRIC, we investigate CSR motives, processes, and stakeholder issues discussed in corporate communications. At the country level, based on a newly developed governance environment framework that differentiates between rule-based and relation-based governance, our study reveals that a country's governance environment is the most important driving force behinds CSR communications intensity. Our results show that firms communicating more CSR tend to be larger firms in the manufacturing industry in more rule-based societies. These firms also tend to have stronger corporate governance as measured by a high proportion of outside board directors and a separation of the roles of the chairman and the CEO.