Political Embeddedness or World Cultural Pressure? Explaining Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China, 2006–2020 ¹

How do organizations respond to institutional complexity arising out of both domestic and global forces? We focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in China empirically test the effects connections world cultural linkage. analyze adoption CSR reports compiled by 3,757 listed firms from 2006 2020 via a discrete-time event history framework. seek explain two different forms reports: those explicitly referencing models written under guidance government agencies. To what extent is attributable political signaling party-government nexus or culture pressures? Do influences operate similarly for based national governmental directives more linked society? Our findings conclude that firms’ connectedness better explains Global Reporting Initiative-based reports. In contrast, their linkage processes, especially at central level, well attuned versions promoted