Abstract:

In the context of “common prosperity”, charitable donations, considered as a means of “the third distribution”, can effectively promote social equity. In China, companies are the main source of charitable donations. However, it is an abnormal behavior for companies to make a large charitable donation even when they are in a state of losing money. Therefore, it is worthy of exploring the logic behind this behavior. From the perspective of legitimacy, this paper, using a mixture of necessity condition analysis (NCA) and regression analysis, explores the mechanism by which charitable donations affect the loss reversal of money-losing companies. The analysis of money-losing companies of publicly traded firms indicates that these companies face a failing legitimacy and can improve their external legitimacy through charitable donations, particularly when they treat their employees better. The gained legitimacy can increase their chance of obtaining government subsidies and, thus, engender a better financial performance. Charitable donations, in interaction with a better social responsibility toward employees, are the boundary condition for companies to achieve loss recovery, and government subsidies play an intermediary role between charitable donations and loss recovery. This paper deepens the theoretical understanding of the relationship between charitable donations, government subsidies, and loss reversal of companies, providing practical implications and policy recommendations for money-losing companies to achieve profitability.

Key words:

charitable donations, government subsidies, loss recovery, money-losing companies, necessity condition analysis（NCA）

摘要：

共同富裕背景下，慈善捐赠作为“第三次分配”手段可有效推动社会公平。企业是我国慈善捐赠的主力军，但在亏损时仍大力度进行慈善捐赠，是一种“反常之举”，此行为逻辑是否体现某种理性值得深入剖析。从合法性视角切入，混合使用必要性分析（NCA）和回归分析的方法，探究慈善捐赠影响企业扭亏效果的作用机制。研究发现：面临合法性缺失的亏损企业可以通过慈善捐赠提升外部合法性，企业履行对员工所尽的社会责任则通过提升内部合法性正向调节外部合法性对政府补贴的作用，从而带来绩效扭亏的结果。慈善捐赠是企业达成扭亏效果的关键必要条件，政府补贴在慈善捐赠影响扭亏效果的主效应及其与对员工社会责任的交互效应中起中介作用。本研究深化了有关亏损企业慈善捐赠、政府补贴和扭亏效果之间关系的理论认识，也为亏损企业实现扭亏为盈提供了管理启示和政策建议。

关键词:

慈善捐赠, 政府补贴, 扭亏效果, 亏损企业, NCA