Twentieth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly significant in China. It has been getting more and more attention over the years within the business and research literature, especially more proactively by entrepreneurs who are encouraged by the Chinese government. This paper focuses specifically on CSR as it is developing among privately owned companies by drawing upon case data from two companies who build a CSR project entitled “xingfu Enterprise” (happiness enterprise) based on traditional Chinese values. This paper introduces an “Organisation is family” model as an important foundation for CSR in China. Focusing on the traditional Chinese values of Harmony, Ren (benevolence), Yi (uprightness), Li (Propriety) and familial collectivism, this paper explores how organisations use a “family” model for CSR management and its impact on employees, organisations, and relevant stakeholders. This paper examines how a “family” CSR model influences employees’ roles and behaviours within and outside the organisations. Through the training programme, we explore how employees’ behaviour changes through the training programmes, how it can effect individual’s responses with others in different social circumstances and eventually have an impact on both individual and organisational happiness. Consequently, “Organisation is Family” has important implications for how the organisational management style as a mediating CSR variable bridges the corporate and social responsibility sides of CSR. More broadly, this contributes to our understanding of the employees’ role in CSR management, and the impact of traditional Chinese values on employee engagement in CSR.