Using CSR Theory to Examine

Disaster Aid Response to the

Wenchuan Earthquake

panies donated both time and resources to assist the

victims of those disasters (Fernando, 2007; Westley,
Murphy, & Anderson, 2008). In the case of Hurricane Katrina, private-sector relief efforts were considered more efficient than the governments (Westley et al., 2008).

What determines a companys response to a devastating calamity, whether near or far? A study of 454
publicly listed Chinese firms that contributed to relief efforts to aid the victims of the 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake revealed that a variety of factors can
influence the level of corporate disaster aid. These
include the companys total assets, the degree of contact with customers, stakeholders perceptions, media coverage, and even the length of time that top
executives have occupied their position. These findings can guide business leaders in designing and implementing corporate social responsibility strategies
that both deliver effective and compassionate assistance to those in need and are aligned with organizational resources and objectives. C 2015 Wiley
Periodicals, Inc.

On May 12, 2008, an earthquake measuring 8.0 on

the Richter scale struck Wenchuan County in the
Sichuan Province of China. The cities of Jiangyou,
Tianpeng, Guangyuan, Mianyang, and Chengdu
suffered extensive damage and continuous aftershocks as well. According to Chinas Ministry of
Civil Affairs (2008), as of July 21, 2008, 69,227
people were confirmed dead, 374,643 were injured,
17,923 were missing, and 4.8 million people were
left homeless.

When a disaster strikes an entire community or nation, governments and nongovernmental agencies
often step in to provide money and other resources
to help survivors rebuild their lives and, ideally,
take any necessary steps to reduce the risk of future calamities (Alexander, 2006). Private companies have emerged as important players in disaster
relief, providing essential supplies, funds, and volunteer workers to provide much-needed assistance
to regions that have suffered a tragedy.

The severity of the earthquake and the resulting media attention led the Chinese people and government
to immediately offer not only their condolences but
also their assistance. By April 30, 2009, 65.996
billion renminbi (RMB, approximately US$11 billion) in cash had been donated by domestic and
foreign individuals and organizations, along with
other aid valued at 10.716 billion RMB, or about
US$1.7 billion (Ministry of Civil Affairs of China,
2009). All donations received to date by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China have been distributed
to the earthquake-affected areas, with most of the
resources used to support residents livelihoods.

In the days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, American newspapers were filled with
corporate advertising that mainly focused on donations and patriotic appeals (Kinnick, 2003). After
the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and Hurricane
Katrina in the United States in 2005, numerous com2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)
Global Business and Organizational Excellence DOI: 10.1002/joe.21614

As expected, a large number of public and private

companies played a key role in the relief efforts.

50

MING ZHAO,
FEI WANG,
DINGTAO ZHAO,
AND JIUCHANG WEI

May/June 2015

According to Sina (2008), the Chinese online media

company, PetroChina Company Limited donated
320 million RMB (about US$51.5 million); China
Mobile, 286.2 million RMB (about US$46.1 million); and CITIC Group, 54.5 million RMB (about
US$8.8 million). The size of each donation varied
significantly. Some companies were very generous,
while others were less so. What determined the level
of response to the earthquake made by the many
companies in China?
Profit is every companys primary concern. Although
disaster aid should be given with no expectation of
anything in return, previous research has shown that
such voluntary contributions are influenced by such
factors as media coverage and public interest (Drury,
Olson, & Van-Belle, 2005; Olsen, Carstensen, &
Hoyen, 2003). Corporate philanthropy, including
donation to disaster relief, however, may serve more
than just an altruistic purpose. Companies are increasingly using their charitable programs as strategic tools to improve their social reputations, and this
ultimately has a positive impact on corporate financial performance (Porter & Kramer, 2002). Indeed,
engaging in social initiatives in response to natural
disasters is an important avenue for improving social reputations (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, & Hill,
2006). Differences in size, financial performance,
and industry may influence corporations humanitarian response.
The Relationship Between CSR and Corporate
Response to Disaster
A number of studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate ethics have suggested a relationship between such factors as social reputation
and financial performance and corporate contributions to disaster relief (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006;
Patten, 2008; Stanwick & Stanwick, 1998).
The intent and extent of CSR initiatives in response
to a disaster are influenced by various factors, in-

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

cluding disaster characteristics, company type, and

competitive strategy. According to a comparative
analysis of the post-tsunami CSR activities of two
large companies in Sri Lanka, Unilever, and Brandix,
during the first 11 months after the Indian Ocean
tsunami of 2004, surgical strategies (such as the dismissal of key personnel, termination of controversial production and markets, and the reorganization
of activities) and mitigative strategies (damage control) played a significant role in shaping the organizations CSR outcomes. This, in turn, reduced the
level of the publics perception of the sincerity of
those companies efforts (Fernando, 2007).

Although disaster aid should be given with no expectation of anything in return, previous research has
shown that such voluntary contributions are influenced by such factors as media coverage and public
interest.

Weak CSR initiatives in response to natural disasters

or other corporate crises seem to have a negative effect on consumers beliefs, attitudes, and intentions,
regardless of the companys profit-oriented or social
motives (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006). Patten (2008)
investigated the market reaction to 79 companies
press releases announcing donations to the disaster
relief in the aftermath of 2004 tsunami, and the results indicate a statistically significant and positive
cumulative abnormal return within five days after
the disaster. Although the timing of the press releases
did not appear to have any influence on market reactions, the amount of the donations did (Patten,
2008).
Dean (2004) examined the relationship between
company reputation and type of donation with motivation for the initiative and consumers perceptions. The findings show that the strategy or approaches used to express a CSR initiative should be

DOI: 10.1002/joe

May/June 2015

51

fully considered in order to ensure that the activity

has a positive effect on the publics attitude toward
the company. In a survey of 56 UK companies and
16 companies outside the United Kingdom, Harrow,
Palmer, & Bogdanova (2006) found that employees
influence corporate donations and create a climate
of expectancy of companies contribution, but that
there is no significant link between donation levels
and corporate financial performance. Basing their
study on a sample of 489 Fortune 500 companies,
Crampton and Patten (2008) found that the extent
of corporate contributions following 9/11 was positively and significantly associated with the companies profitability. They also found that the level of
giving increased when the organizations connection
to the catastrophic event was greater.
Corporate ownership also affects companies disaster response behavior. Zhang, Rezaee, & Zhu (2009)
found that the contributions from state-owned companies following the Wenchuan earthquake were
less than those from privately held companies. An
explanation for this could lie in the fact that stateowned companies are bound by stricter rules regarding corporate donations than private companies
are.
Not all corporate philanthropy is tied to financial
and managerial performance; the media also play a
part in influencing companies disaster relief campaigns (Benthall, 1993). A great deal of research
has shown that news coverage of a disaster can increase the response to an emergency fundraising appeal and aggregate donations (Massey, 1994; Meijer,
Bekkers, & Schuyt, 2005; Simon, 1997). Oosterhof,
Heuvelman, & Peters (2009) noted that news exposure can have an effect on all the other factors
related to corporate disaster response.
In addition to company characteristics and media reports, the location of a disaster also influences corporate charitable behavior. Organizational
philanthropic behavior appears to vary systemati-

52

May/June 2015

cally across regions, according to a study on the

response of global Fortune 500 companies from
North America, Europe, and Asia to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
and the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 (Muller &
Whiteman, 2009). A comparison of corporate response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the
2004 sub-Saharan Africa famine showed that even
though the latter calamity claimed a larger number
of victims, significantly more donations were made
to assist the victims of the tsunami, in part because
many of them were European and North American
tourists who were vacationing on the coasts overrun
by the waves. This gave people outside Asia the impetus to contribute, despite the geographical remoteness of the event (Alexander, 2006). Although these
studies focused on the relationship between corporate characteristics and donation levels, they did not
address the effect of corporate leaders influence and
corporate reputation.

Not all corporate philanthropy is tied to financial

and managerial performance; the media also play
a part in influencing companies disaster relief
campaigns.

Toward a Better Understanding of Corporate

Philanthropy
A good fit between a companys prior expectations,
knowledge, actions, and competencies and a given
social initiative can reinforce public perception of its
CSR efforts and strengthen the companys market
position (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Keller, 1993).
Companies have an incentive to enact initiatives that
benefit them in reaction to a natural disaster. On the
one hand, the donation should match the size of the
company; on the other hand, companies also have
to consider their financial performance, Ideally, CSR
initiatives should meet the publics expectations of a

DOI: 10.1002/joe

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

companys citizenship behaviors. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Large companies donate more
to disaster relief. The level of donation is related to corporate financial performance, including profitability, assets, and turnover.
Studies have shown that corporate donation behavior is related to corporate governance (Harrow et al.,
2006; Zhang et al., 2009)that is, the set of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions affecting the way a company is directed, administered,
or controlled. Therefore, the characteristics of an organizations leader or owner also are likely to have
an impact. Thus:

Companies from industries with high levels of contact with the public, such as retailers, commodity
producers, and banks, typically donate more than
companies from industries with low levels of contact, such as mining firms and utilities (Useem, 1988;
Zhang et al., 2009). Since CSR initiatives can be
used to enhance a companys market position and
improve customers perception of a company, we
propose:
Hypothesis 5a: Companies with a larger number of customers are more highly motivated
to take on a CSR initiative in response to a
disaster.
Hypothesis 5b: Companies from industries
with a high level of public contact will donate
more than those from industries with a lower
level of public contact.

Hypothesis 2a: The corporate leader has an effect on corporate disaster-relief donation.
Hypothesis 2b: The type of company ownership can affect the level of donation level, with
a significant difference between the donation
behavior of state-owned and privately owned
companies.
The economic development of a particular region
also may affect corporate disaster donation. The
more companies in a particular area, the more successful a donation campaign is likely to be there.
Previous research has shown that the donation decisions made by the leaders of a company located in
an affluent environment will be influenced by their
peers in nearby companies (Crampton & Patten,
2008; Useem, 1988). Moreover, corporations response to disasters generates media attention. Therefore, we propose:
Hypothesis 3: Companies located in more affluent settings are more generous in their level
of disaster-relief donation.
Hypothesis 4: A corporations disaster-relief
donation has an impact on its reputation.

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

Previous research has shown that the donation decisions made by the leaders of a company located in
an affluent environment will be influenced by their
peers in nearby companies.

The Challenge of Examining the Determinants of

Corporate Philanthropy
Examining the factors that determined the size of the
donations made in response to the 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake presents a challenge. Much of the pertinent data is not available, since most Chinese firms
do not release their financials to the public. Only
those that are listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (http://www.sse.com.cn) and the Shenzhen
Stock Exchange (http://www.szse.cn) of China do.
Those organizations formed the sample base for this
study. In 2008, there were 1,604 Chinese companies
listed on the two stock exchanges.
In the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake, many
of these firms pledged cash, supplies, and labor.

DOI: 10.1002/joe

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53

The rules and regulations of the Chinese stock market required that an account of such donations
be published in those companies 2008 annual report. A survey of their annual reports revealed that
of the 1,604 listed companies, 454 donated cash
or in-kind services between May 12 and December 31, 2008. Before attempting to identify the determinants of disaster donations and their effects
on the level of donation, it is helpful to study the
preferred donation quantities in order to understand what companies consider to be an appropriate
response.

Before attempting to identify the determinants of

disaster donations and their effects on the level of
donation, it is helpful to study the preferred donation
quantities in order to understand what companies
consider to be an appropriate response.

Multiple regression analysis was used to test the determinants of donation size. The dependent variable
is the size of a companys pledge to earthquake relief.
The independent variables include corporate financial performance, corporate governance, economic
development level, corporate reputation, and public
connection. Reflecting corporate size, profitability,
and cash flow, the following variables were used to
measure corporate financial performance: total assets, debt-asset ratio, turnover, net profit, net cash
flow from operating activities, and increase in cash
and cash equivalents. Corporate governance was
measured in terms of variables: ownership, education of the corporate leader, age of the corporate
leader, and duration of the corporate leaders employment. Economic development can be measured
by per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the
province in which the city is located.
Since stakeholders receive information through TV,
newspaper, and Internet reports, the mass media
play an important role in influencing public percep-

54

May/June 2015

tion of corporate altruism (Coombs, 2007). Given

the fact that much can be learned from a corporations online presence (Coombs, 2007; Wei, Zhao,
Wu, & Lv, 2009), the number of web pages devoted
to sharing company information is used to assess
corporate reputation.
Details on the amount of donations, which were
made by the companies and their staff, as well as information on corporate governance and the level of
connection with the public, were retrieved from corporate annual reports. Since most donations were
made within 30 days following the disaster, the researchers worked with the 2008 interim reports published by the 454 listed companies. The variables
of ownership and public connection were dummy
variables. If the company was state-owned, ownership was coded as 1; otherwise, it was coded as 0. If
the company had a high level of connection to the
public, it was coded as 1; otherwise, as 0. Per-capita
GDP figures were retrieved from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (http://www.stats.gov.cn).
Given the broad availability of information online,
it is logical to investigate the extent to which timelines may be automatically generated from a coherent body of documents (Swan & Allan, 2000).
To conduct their search of the number of web
pages related to a company and its corporate disaster donation, researchers used the Baidu engine
(http://www.baidu.com), which is the largest one in
the Chinese language. An online program was developed to obtain the number of web pages related
to company information. Research variables and descriptive statistics are given in Exhibit 1.

Assessing the Variations in Corporate Contributions

As shown in Exhibit 2 on page 56, from the perspective of statistical distribution, the results of the
statistical analysis of corporate donations revealed
that the size of donations did not meet the normal
distribution. In order of preference, the most
common donation amounts were 1, 0.5, 1.5, 2,

DOI: 10.1002/joe

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

Exhibit 1. Descriptive Statistics

Variables

Total assets (in million

RMB)
Debt-asset ratio (in
million RMB)
Turnover (in million
RMB)
Net profit (in million
RMB)
Growth rate of real
operation profit (%)
Net cash flows from
operating activities
(in million RMB)
Increase in cash and
cash equivalents (in
million RMB)
Per capita GDP of the
local province (RMB)
Ownership
Public connection
Education of corporate
leader
Age of corporate leader
Duration of corporate
leaders employment
(in years)
Number of web pages
related to company
information
Donation size (10
thousand RMB)

Number of
Observations

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Std. Deviation

454

78.41

9,399,960.00

83,060.13

649,210.63

454

4.16

391.13

52.07

25.73

454

298.32

734,783.00

7,924.88

46,271.32

454

447.22

64,879.00

953.76

5,474.58

454

4,267.12

12,681.57

65.42

678.03

454

65,690.76

196,132.00

992.39

12,095.47

454

69,350.44

61,142.16

241.11

6,283.10

454

6,835.00

64,592.00

29,706.20

16,002.57

454
454
454

0
0
1.00

1
1
5.00

0.15
0.37
3.39

0.36
0.48
0.92

454
454

28.00
1.00

68.00
13.00

50.41
4.81

7.24
2.44

454

2,130.00

3,630,000.00

261,942.44

436,308.02

454

5.00

10,000.00

465.27

1,001.50

and 10 million RMB (or about US$0.16, 0.080,

0.24, 0.32, and 1.6 million, respectively). The profile of donation size shows two vertices in the curve:
1 million RMB, which was donated by 21.81 percent of the firms in the sample, and 10 million RMB,
given by 4.63 percent of the firms. Small and midsize companies preferred to donate around 1 million RMB, while large companies tended to donate
around 10 million RMB. The abnormal distribution
might mainly be due to the fact that some donations

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

might depend on corporate revenues (Dean, 2004).

Higher revenues generally allow for more resources
to be available for donations.
As shown in Exhibit 3 on page 57, researchers ran
three model specifications. Since donation size was
hypothesized to depend on corporate financial performance, the first model included only the variables for corporate financial performance. Model 2
excludes the effect of corporate leaders on disaster

DOI: 10.1002/joe

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55

Exhibit 2. The Percentage of Each Size of Donation

donation. Model 3 includes all the variables mentioned above.

The results in Model 1 show that corporate financial performance has a positive effect on donation size, which is consistent with Hypothesis 1. In
other words, companies with greater total assets and
net profit are more likely to donate more, which
is line with the findings of Crampton and Patten
(2008).
The results in Model 3 show that total assets, number of web pages related to company information,
duration of the corporate leaders employment, and
public connection have positive effects on donation
size, which is consistent with Hypothesis 4. The
companies with a greater number of web pages containing company information have a higher level of
visibility. Those companies are driven to take an active and often generous role in disaster response in
order to meet public expectations. In turn, doing so

56

May/June 2015

further enhances their reputation. Customers also

play an important role in driving a companys response to a disaster. Organizations with a high level
of contact with the public seem to be motivated to
provide more assistance, which will generate more
goodwill among their customers. Thus, Hypotheses
5a and 5b are confirmed by the study.
The length of a corporate leaders employment also
positively influences donation size. This confirms
Hypothesis 2a. The longer a business leaders tenure,
the more influence he or she is likely to have on
corporate decision making. These results are in line
with research conducted by Tian and Estrin (2008),
which indicated that a change of leadership may influence corporate philanthropy in Chinese publicly
listed companies. Leadership factors were treated as
control variables when estimating a firms charitable behaviors (Seifert, Morris, & Bartkus, 2003).
Corporate turnover was found to have a negative effect on donation size. One explanation for

DOI: 10.1002/joe

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

Exhibit 3. Determinants of Donation Size (Multiple Analysis Regressions)

Variables

Constant
Total assets
Debt-asset ratio
Turnover
Net profit
Growth rate of real
operation profit
Net cash flows from
operating activities
Increase in cash and
cash equivalents
Per capita GDP of
locating area
Ownership
Public connection
Education of corporate
leader
Age of corporate leader
Duration of corporate
leaders employment
Number of web pages
related to company
information
Number of observations
R2
Adjust R2

Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

SE

SE

SE

280.9153***
0.0006***
1.6639
0.0004
0.0349*
0.0112

81.5573
0.0001
1.4129
0.0011
0.0201
0.0526

21.3841
0.0007***
0.4714
0.0027***
0.0021
0.0011

93.9477
0.0001
1.2266
0.0009
0.0175
0.0451

155.3073
0.0007***
0.2654
0.0026***
0.0011
0.0000

273.7143
0.0001
1.2307
0.0009
0.0175
0.0451

0.0062

0.0055

0.0037

0.0048

0.0036

0.0048

0.0100

0.0097

0.0027

0.0084

0.0028

0.0084

0.0024

0.0020

0.0024

0.0020

119.1388
123.2860*

0.0012***

454
0.436
0.427

454
0.588
0.578

91.5079
65.3199

0.0001

130.0113
125.7001*
3.5424

92.1399
65.3687
34.6023

0.7422
24.6321*

4.4417
12.9674

0.0011***

0.0001

454
0.592
0.579

Note: ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

this could be that turnover is not associated with

profitability.
Hypotheses 2b and 3 were not supported by the
study results. Whether state owned or privately
owned, and regardless of the affluence of their
home base, companies responded similarly to the
Wenchuan earthquake.
Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility
Practices
The value of donations in cash or in kind from nongovernmental actors to those suffering from disaster

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

is immeasurable (Crampton & Patten, 2008). Meanwhile, companies that provide such assistance may
find that their response serves more than just an
altruistic purpose. The main findings of this study
show that:

Small and midsize companies preferred to donate

1 million RMB, and large companies most often
gave 10 million RMB.
A companys total assets, the number of web pages
related to company information, the corporate
leaders length of tenure, and the connection to
the public are related to the amount donated.

DOI: 10.1002/joe

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57

This study, which observed correlations and not

causality, found a positive relationship between
corporate reputation and public connection and the
donation amount. Companies that enjoy a good
reputation and have a high level of contact with the
public are more likely to strive to meet public expectations regarding disaster response. This indicates
that it would be wise for firms to consider media
exposure, industry trends, and estimated public
expectations when setting their CSR strategies.

Companies that enjoy a good reputation and have a

high level of contact with the public are more likely to
strive to meet public expectations regarding disaster
response.

The preferred donation amounts revealed in this

study indicate that the size of corporate contributions to disaster relief is influenced not only by firms
profitability and other financial considerations but
also by pressure from other companies and the public. Taking corporate financial capacity and public expectations into account will enable business
leaders to implement a corporate donation strategy
that sets them apart from the competition. Since the
study also found that a corporate leaders tenure has
an impact on charitable giving, it is important for
businesses to incorporate social responsibility into
their organizational culture. This will help create a
standardized process of philanthropic decision making that, regardless of who occupies the top position,
will guide leaders in ensuring that their response to
requests for charitable assistance are compassionate,
effective, and aligned with organizational resources
and objectives.

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Ming Zhao is a doctoral student at the School of Management

of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.
His research focuses on crisis and risk management. He can
be reached at zhao816@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
Fei Wang, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of
Management of the University of Science and Technology of
China in Hefei. His research focuses on crisis and risk management. He can be reached at wf504202@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
Dingtao Zhao, a professor at the School of Management of
the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei,
holds a master of philosophy degree from South China University of Technology. His primary research interests include
strategy management, sustainable development in China, and
crisis management. He can be reached at Box@ustc.edu.cn.
Jiuchang Wei, PhD, is an associate professor at the School
of Management of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei. His primary research interests
are risk and crisis management, sustainable development in
China, and information management. He can be reached at
weijc@ustc.edu.cn.

DOI: 10.1002/joe

May/June 2015

59