Corporate Social Responsibility Fulfillment on the Performance of Chinese Enterprises Overseas: An Empirical Study

Abstract

In increasingly complex international business environments, how multinational enterprises use corporate social responsibility (CSR) to gain host‐country legitimacy and improve performance has become an important issue in international business and CSR research. Drawing on stakeholder theory and the 2018 Overseas Chinese Enterprises and Employees Survey (OCEES) conducted by Yunnan University, this study distinguishes external CSR from internal CSR and examines their differential performance effects, mechanisms, and boundary conditions among overseas Chinese enterprises. The results show that external CSR significantly improves firm performance, mainly through enhanced corporate reputation and pricing capability. In contrast, internal CSR has a less stable performance effect and does not generate the expected positive mechanisms through employee job satisfaction and engagement. Heterogeneity analyses show that external CSR returns are stronger for firms primarily serving host‐country markets and for those operating in low‐income host countries or countries with lower institutional quality than China. Further analysis indicates that, under CSR resource constraints, increasing the share of external CSR in the overall CSR portfolio improves firm performance.