DOI：10.38007/978-1-80053-556-5

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China has undergone a decisive shift from a peripheral corporate gesture to a central governance mechanism shaped by the evolving interaction among the state, enterprises, and society. Among these actors, the public has emerged as one of the most dynamic and structurally consequential forces influencing corporate behavior. This article examines the optimization of CSR in Chinese companies from the perspective of the public, conceptualizing the public not as a passive beneficiary of corporate actions but as an active, multilayered governance actor embedded within China’s hybrid political and institutional environment. Drawing on governance theory, participatory frameworks, and the social foundations of regulatory enforcement, the analysis demonstrates that public influence on CSR manifests through formal participation mechanisms, digital supervision, consumer activism, community-level monitoring, collaborative governance initiatives, and reputational sanctions. 

The study identifies four major transformations that have expanded public involvement: the institutionalization of participation procedures in environmental and administrative governance; the emergence of a powerful, algorithmically mediated digital public sphere; the strengthening of community-organized monitoring and negotiation processes; and the integration of public sentiment into regulatory decision-making. Public participation in China has evolved from symbolic consultation in the 1990s to a sophisticated, multi-modal system that affects corporate project approvals, operational decisions, risk management strategies, and long-term CSR planning. The article further analyzes structural constraints—including information asymmetry, unequal civic capacity, political boundaries, corporate co-optation strategies, and attention volatility—that limit the full realization of public supervisory potential. 

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