As China's population aging accelerates, changes in the demographic age structure are expected to have a comprehensive and profound impact on the socio-economic landscape of the country. However, existing research on the impact of population aging on firms mainly focuses on the impact of population aging on companies' financial decision-making behaviors, and less attention is paid to the impact of population aging on corporate non-financial decision-making behaviors, and how companies respond to population aging through non-financial decision-making behaviors.
This paper focuses on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2020, investigating how changes in population age structure affect corporate performance in social responsibility. It finds that population aging significantly enhances corporate social responsibility performance, particularly in labor-intensive enterprises, companies facing intense market competition, and those with lower reputations. Further research reveals that population aging promotes corporate social responsibility efforts in employee-related areas, and the enhanced corporate social responsibility helps mitigate the negative impact of population aging on corporate labor productivity.
This paper contributes to existing literature in two aspects. First, this paper explores the theoretical mechanism by which population aging affects corporate social responsibility performance, and extends previous research on the economic impact of population aging on micro enterprises from a new perspective. It also provides new ideas on how companies can effectively deal with the adverse effects of population aging. Secondly, this paper examines the impact of the social factor of population aging on corporate social responsibility performance, extends existing literature on the determinants of corporate social responsibility, highlights the role of strategic coping motivations in corporate social responsibility and contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanism of corporate social responsibility.
In the face of an increasingly severe aging situation, effectively responding to the aging population is related to the overall development of a country and the well-being of the people. This study highlights the importance of enhancing corporate social responsibility in response to the challenges of population aging. This paper provides empirical evidence and strategic recommendations for businesses and governments in formulating strategies to address population aging, which helps promote high-quality development of enterprises and Chinese-style modernization.