How Do Chinese SOEs Integrate Economic Functions with Social Functions? A Viewpoint Based on the Analysis of Social Reporting Features

As a core component of the socialist market economy,1 the state sector (SS) plays an important role in guiding the economic development of China and ensuring its economic function of retaining and increasing the value of national assets. However, securing economic stability and development is not the only responsibility taken by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as stated by De (2012), “SOEs across the world serve multiple functions and have heterogeneous goals … judging their functions … on the basis of profitability or some other criterion of market-linked efficiency is futile”. Nowadays, people expect more from the SS’s social function. State-owned or state holding enterprises2 (SOE) as a major component of the SS automatically undertake the dual function of economy and society. However, under many circumstances, these two functions are irreconcilable. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the SOEs’ methods of integrating their economic functions with social functions from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting.