How Does Corporate Charitable Giving Affect Enterprise Innovation? A Literature Review and Research Directions

During the past decades, academics and practitioners have basically reached a consensus on the relationship between corporate charitable giving and enterprise innovation. However, so far, few research studies have explored the essential reasons and the influencing mechanisms behind the relationship, through sufficient theoretical or empirical study. To clarify this relationship, this paper collects and reviews 196 related articles which include the topics of corporate philanthropy and corporate innovation over the period of 1966–2022, and analyzes their content in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Based on the literature analysis, it clarifies the current state and the differentiation trends of research topics in this field, then discusses the industry operations and theoretical development of corporate charitable giving. Through literature reviewing and practical analysis, this paper summarizes the mechanism and path of the influence of charitable giving on enterprise innovation from four perspectives: technical network, political reputation, media attention and resource adjustment, and proposes the external factors at macro- and meso-levels. By constructing a multi-level theoretical framework, this paper clarifies the preconditions, key factors and mediating mechanisms of charitable donation affecting enterprise innovation. This paper contributes a novel theoretical perspective for further theoretical development and for effectively managing corporate charitable giving and enterprise innovations. The paper concludes by offering several suggestions for future research on corporate charitable giving.