Corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases legitimacy, and many firms engage in superficial communication to demonstrate their CSR commitments, often without enacting adequate measures. Such CSR decoupling may result in greenwashing and harm a company’s strategic trajectory. Based on regulatory focus theory (RFT), this study examines how managers’ regulatory focus influences CSR decoupling. Using 2010–2021 panel data on Chinese A‑share listed firms, we estimate fixed effects models and veri…
Read moreCorporate social responsibility (CSR) increases legitimacy, and many firms engage in superficial communication to demonstrate their CSR commitments, often without enacting adequate measures. Such CSR decoupling may result in greenwashing and harm a company’s strategic trajectory. Based on regulatory focus theory (RFT), this study examines how managers’ regulatory focus influences CSR decoupling. Using 2010–2021 panel data on Chinese A‑share listed firms, we estimate fixed effects models and verify robustness with a bidirectional encoder representation from transformers (BERT) machine learning approach. These findings reveal that prevention-focused managers inhibit CSR decoupling, and promotion-focused managers promote CSR decoupling. Moreover, when there are high levels of organizational slack and managerial social capital, the negative (positive) association between a prevention (promotion) focus and CSR decoupling is strengthened (weakened). We contribute to the literature on decoupling, the role of managers’ regulatory focus, and its implications for CSR practices.
