The effects of corporate social responsibility and creating shared value on public trust, and public supportive behavior: A comparison study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among corporate social responsibility (CSR), stakeholders’ expectation on creating shared value (CSV), trust in business, and their resulting supportive behavior towards corporations in the U.S. and China. 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer® data were utilized for exploring the effects of CSR and publics’ CSV expectation on trust and supportive behaviour. The research showed that CSR was the only predictor of trust in business in the U.S., while in China, both CSR and CSV expectation affected the level of trust. Moreover, Chinese stakeholders’ expectation on corporate CSV performance played a role in how trust can be enhanced by corporate CSR behaviors. As for the factors contributing to supportive behavior, corporations’ CSR behaviors, stakeholders’ CSV expectation, and trust in business significantly affected the supportive behaviors of stakeholders in both countries. The data further showed that, when Chinese stakeholders believe corporations can take actions solving social and economic issues and increase profits at the same time, their evaluated trust in business and perceived CSR performance drive their supportive behaviors towards a trusted corporation to a higher level. From the ethical perspective, this study sheds light on how corporations can cooperate with stakeholders in defining their CSR objectives and initiatives to co-create values acceptable to both sides, and contributing to the triple bottom-lines. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.