MNC Subsidiaries' Charitable Donations in Korea: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis

다국적기업 자회사의 한국시장 기부활동: 탐색적 실증분석

Purpose - The main purpose of this study is to test two competing hypotheses on the relationship between foreignness and corporate philanthropy drawing on the resource dependence theory. Design/methodology/approach - This study used Korean Enterprsie Survey data constructed by Korean Statistical Information Service. This study employed both OLS and Tobit models to test the hypotheses. Findings - A conventional wisdom can argue that MNC subsidiaries are more willing to give charitable donations than local firms do because they may perceive philanthropy in the host country is a good opportunity to reduce liabilities of foreignness (H1-1). On the other hand, one can argue that MNC subsidiaries are less willing to give charitable donations than local firms do because they have operational flexibility when they are coerced to engage in corporate philanthropy by host country government stakeholders (H1-2). Empirical results support the prediction that MNC subsidiaries are less likely to give charitable donations than local firms do in Korea. Research implications or Originality - Our findings can provide useful insights to researchers and managers in the sense that MNC managers can increase or decrease their charitable donations depending on the institutional contingencies in different host countries. These institutional contingencies are particularly important within a transforming context such as Korea.