| 主讲人简介： | Xiaocong Tian, Associate Professor at the School of Management, Shandong University. Her current research focuses on international political relations, rhetorical strategies, and corporate governance in the context of emerging markets. Her studies have appeared in leading academic journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, and International Business Review. |
| 简介： | Multinational enterprises and their subsidiaries operate in complex, turbulent environments under geopolitical tension. While prior research has focused on how MNE rhetoric secures legitimacy, less is known about its defensive role in avoiding illegitimacy, especially under nationalist pressures. We examine how host-country nationalist sentiment and its temporal dynamics shape subsidiaries’ CSR rhetoric. Using Sina Weibo comments and posts from 122 foreign subsidiary accounts, analyzed with advanced machine learning techniques, we find that nationalist sentiment has positive influence on CSR rhetoric, while sentiment inertia and volatility exert negative and positive effects on CSR rhetoric, respectively. Our study highlights CSR rhetoric as a mechanism for mitigating illegitimacy, offering insights for managing corporate communication in politically sensitive contexts. |