Theoretical evolution and practical enlightenment of the relationship between corporate charitable donation and government subsidies
Rongrong Li
School of Business, Xi ’an International Studies University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/bam.v7i1.9563
Keywords: Corporate philanthropic giving; Government grants; Social exchange theory; Social governance innovation; Third allocation
Abstract
In the context of global economic governance and social transformation, the interaction mechanism between corporate charitable donations and government subsidies has become a central issue in analyzing the relationship between government and business. Based on the social exchange theory, this paper integrates domestic and foreign literature to reveal the internal logic and institutional constraints of government-enterprise resource exchange. The results show that charitable donation is a strategic tool for enterprises to obtain policy support and an important way for governments to reallocate social resources. The effect of charitable donation is moderated by factors such as property rights, industry characteristics, and political connections. Non-stateowned enterprises break through the institutional barriers through donation to obtain financial favors, while environmental protection enterprises strengthen their alignment with green policies through donation. Although the donation scale of state-owned enterprises is relatively low, they undertake unique public functions through non-monetary forms such as volunteer service. This paper proposes a policy framework to optimize the interaction between government and enterprise, including establishing a dynamic evaluation system of donation performance, improving the design of inclusive policies and promoting charity legislation, which provides theoretical and practical basis for the institutionalization of the third distribution and the collaborative governance of government, enterprise and society.
References
[1] Molm L D. Theoretical comparisons of forms of exchange[J]. Sociological theory, 2003, 21(1): 1-17.
[2] Dong Z , Wei X , Zhang Y .The allocation of entrepreneurial efforts in a rent-seeking society: Evidence from China[J].Journal of Comparative Economics, 2016, 44(2):353-371.
[3] SHLEIFER A, VISHNY R W.Politicians and firms[J].The Quarterly journal of Economics, 1994,109 (4):995-1025.
[4] Arya A, Mittendorf B. Supply chain consequences of subsidies for corporate social responsibility[J]. Production and Operations Management, 2015, 24(8): 1346-1357.