Driving Mechanisms Of Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies In Huge-Chinese Construction Corporations

China currently has the largest construction market in the world.Megaprojects that constructed by huge Chinese construction corporations(HCCCs)cause enormous impacts on social performance.The unique political,economic and social environments faced by HCCCs have increased the urgency and difficulty of developing corporate social responsibility(CSR)strategies.Although the issue of CSR has caught widespread attention from scholars and managers in China,the mechanism that drives HCCCs’ CSR remains unclear.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to figure out the mechanism.Based on the neo-institutional theory and from an ethical leadership perspective,a comprehensive framework for investigating the roles of both external and internal motivations that drive HCCCs’ CSR strategy was established.Through literature review,expert interviews and expert workshop,measurement scales including six motives,i.e.,organizational legitimacy,institutional pressure,CSR strategy,ethical leadership,managerial moral motivations and managerial autonomy are developed.Next,the hypothetical model was developed based on literature review.A questionnaire was designed with the combination of the theoretical model and the measurement scales described above.A large-scale questionnaire survey was then conducted among HCCCs(Sample size,N = 660).The theoretical consistency of the measurement model was tested with confirmatory factor analysis.To identify the dimensions and factors that drive HCCCs’ CSR strategy,make clear the path and intensity of the mechanism and verify the hypothetical framework,the structural equation modeling(SEM)and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.Finally,an observation survey was conducted among18 HCCCs to verify the validity and rationality of the theoretical models.Based on a comparative analysis of the theoretical model and the verification survey,targeted policy implications were proposed.The results include:(1)the results verified the applicability of neo-institutional theory to the Chinese construction industry.The significant paths of influence between organizational legitimacy,institutional pressures and CSR strategy were identified,providing a basis to effectively promote the development of a CSR strategy for HCCCs.(2)The results based on SEM reveal that the expectation of government has a suppression influence on cognitive institutional pressure on HCCCs’ CSR performance,cognitive institutional pressure has a more prominent role than regulative and normative institutional pressures in promoting CSR strategies.(3)The results based on hierarchical regression suggest that ethical leadership has a more direct and mediating influence on CSR strategies of employee protection and community participation,while institutional pressures have a greater direct influence on environmental protection and fair competition.(4)Through comparing and analyzing the CSR management of 18 case HCCCs,the rationality of the theoretical model is verified to a large extent.This research provides a reference for applying neo-institutional theory in future CSR research as well as support for construction corporate managers to understand and apply neo-institutional theory in corporate governance.This research not only deepens the understanding of the external and internal mechanisms that drive CSR strategy in the Chinese construction industry but also has practical implications for Chinese construction corporations in terms of developing CSR strategy and ultimately improving their CSR performance.