Embedded Philanthropic CSR in Digital China: Unified View of Prosocial and Pro-environmental Practices

Qing Ye; Zain Rafique; Rongting Zhou; Fahad Asmi; Muhammad Azfar Anwar; Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695468

Embedded Philanthropic CSR in Digital China: Unified View of Prosocial and Pro-environmental Practices

Front Psychol. 2021 Sep 1:12:695468. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695468. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qing Ye^{1

2

3}, Zain Rafique⁴, Rongting Zhou^{1

3}, Fahad Asmi^{1

3}, Muhammad Azfar Anwar^{5

6}, Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Technology of Communication, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
² College of Information Engineering, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Immersive Media Technology (Anhui Xinhua Media Co., Ltd.), Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hefei, China.
⁴ Department of Governance and Public Policy, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Research Institute of Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management, College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
⁶ Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari, Pakistan.
⁷ Bond Business School, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

In recent decades, China has transformed from a conventional society into a digitally competitive nation. From an economic perspective, embedded corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining a new height where gamified charity is a trendy approach. By adopting the norm activation model from the point of view of the stimulus-organism-response framework, this research theoretically conceptualized the role of the mobile application environment (including telepresence, functional transparency, and accessibility) to map the cognition and philanthropic behavioral intentions of consumers in the gamified setting. The quantified survey comprised 669 respondents. The findings highlighted the critical role of functional transparency and telepresence of a mobile application in driving consumers' warm glow and ascribed responsibility. The research underlined the presence of the unique DNA of Internet Plus Charity (Public Benefits) for prosocial and pro-environmental purposes in China under the umbrella of philanthropic CSR.

Keywords: CSR; S-O-R framework; functional transparency; gamified charity; telepresence; warm glow.