2022 6th Annual International Conference on Data Science and Business Analytics (ICDSBA)
2022 6th Annual International Conference on Data Science and Business Analytics (ICDSBA) | 978-1-6654-5450-6/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICDSBA57203.2022.00082
Research on Social Responsibility of Digital Platform Enterprise
Tencent as an example
Jie Zhang1,* Long Lin2
School of Management School of Management
Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan University of Technology
Wuhan, China Wuhan, China
e-mail: 838134636@qq.com e-mail: 765166770@qq.com
Abstract—In the era of digital economy, digital technology is
developing rapidly and becoming increasingly popular in
economic and social life, but in the process of rapid expansion,
China's digital development has also exposed many more
prominent social problems, such as hidden dangers of network
security and obvious regional disparities. Taking Tencent, a
typical representative platform enterprise, as an example, this
paper will explore the social responsibility requirements of
digital platform-based enterprises using the single-case
analysis method and the rooted theory case study method,
enrich the literature on the social responsibility of digital
platform-based enterprises, provide a theoretical basis for
strengthening the social responsibility governance of digital
platform enterprises, and provide meaningful insights for
government departments to improve policies related to the
governance of digital platforms.
Keywords-Digital platforms; platform companies; social
responsibility; rootedness theory; linear regression equation
model
I. INTRODUCTION
Represented by artificial intelligence, cloud computing
and big data, the development of digital technologies and
their increasing popularity in economic and social life has
promoted the rise of new forms of organizations in various
fields represented by platform-based enterprises [1]. In
March 2020, the Outline of the National Strategy for the
Development of Informatization issued by the Office of the
Central Government and the State Council stressed that a
number of Internet enterprises in China have entered the
forefront of the world and formed a more complete of the
information industry system. However, at the same time, the
rapid development of digital platforms is not only changing
the way economic activities are organized and the way
society lives, but also inducing many prominent new issues
of social responsibility such as online fraud, privacy leakage,
copyright infringement and data misuse [2]. For example,
incidents such as the leakage of personal information of
riders by DiDi and the leakage of registration information
retained by users by AliCloud to third-party companies
without their consent have received great attention and
widespread attention from the government, the media, the
public and other sectors of society. Therefore, it is necessary
2831-5944/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE 383
DOI 10.1109/ICDSBA57203.2022.00082
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
ZengYu Wei3
School of Management
Wuhan University of Technology
Wuhan, China
e-mail: 309459@whut.edu.cn
to conduct academic research on the social responsibility of
digital platform-based enterprises.
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
In the era of digital economy, platform-based enterprises
mainly refer to the use of digital technology to build digital
platforms and provide products and services accordingly. For
enterprises, the provision of goods and services to society is
the basis of their survival, but they can also communicate
between supply and demand by providing goods and services
in the transaction process, leading to the creation of social
value [3]. Platform enterprises have an open business model
that relies on the synergy of various platform participants to
create value, and there will be network effects and positive
feedback as the number of users increases [4]. Xiao Hongjun
and Li Ping [5] believe that the social responsibility of
platform enterprises includes three aspects: social
responsibility as an independent operating platform, social
responsibility as a business operation platform and social
responsibility as a social resource allocation platform. He
Shihao and Sun Haiyao [6] suggest that social responsibility
of platform enterprises includes three aspects: construction
responsibility, governance responsibility and social response
responsibility, which should not only ensure platform quality
and maintain platform upgrades, but also regulate and
restrain the behavior of platform users, and actively respond
to social expectations and public demands.
As a special kind of platform organization, platform
enterprises have both the characteristics of ordinary
platforms and the uniqueness of being different from other
types of platforms. Therefore, the social responsibility of
platform-based enterprises also has special characteristics
and needs to be further explored. At present, there are
relatively few in-depth studies on the social responsibility
content of digital platform-based enterprises, which hinders
the formulation of relevant government management policies
and the high-quality development of the industry, and
constructive theoretical results are urgently needed.
Therefore, this paper will take Tencent, a typical
representative platform enterprise, as an example, and adopt
the single-case analysis method and the rooted theory case
study method to explore the social responsibility
requirements of digital platform-type enterprises, enrich the
literature on the social responsibility of digital platform-type
 enterprises, provide a theoretical basis for strengthening the
social responsibility governance of digital platform
enterprises, and provide meaningful insights for government
departments to improve policies related to the governance of
digital platforms.
III. STUDY DESIGN
A. Research Methodology
This paper is a data processing and case study analysis
using the rooted theory research method developed by
Galsser and Strauss. The rooting theory research method is a
research method that builds a substantive theory from the
bottom up from a large amount of information without
research hypotheses [7]. The reason for adopting the rooting
theory research approach in this paper is that rooting theory
is considered to be the most scientific methodology in
qualitative research and helps to develop strong and
convincing conclusions. This study follows the operational
procedures of Root Cause Theory [8], and after rigorous data
collection and analysis, constructs a theoretical model of
social responsibility of platform enterprises through open
coding, main axis coding and selective coding, and realizes
the mining of social responsibility of platform enterprises
elements. Figure 1 gives the operational procedure of the
rooting theory.

Figure 1. Operational procedures of the rooting theory

B. Case selection TABLE I. DATA SOURCES

This paper chooses Tencent as the research object to number data source Content and quantity
explore the social responsibility requirements of digital 1 Tencent official Company introduction, vision and
platform-based enterprises through data collection and website mission, development history, business
analysis of Tencent's interactive behaviors with users and structure, management team, corporate
other social responsibility behaviors. The reasons for culture, social responsibility, etc.
(finishing documents with more than
choosing Tencent as the subject of this study are as follows: 30,000 words)
(1) Typicality of the case. Tencent is a representative digital 2 Baidu news News reports about Tencent in the past
platform enterprise, occupying a central position among search engine five years (finishing more than 20,000
many platform enterprises and having a significant impact on words)
all aspects of society, production and life. (2) The richness of 3 Baidu video Interview speech of Tencent's senior
the cases. Compared to other digital platform-based search engine managers (finishing more than 10,000
words)
enterprises, Tencent has developed at a faster pace and for a
longer period of time, and has made many attempts at social 4 China Academic Related documents about Tencent
journal Network enterprises (16 articles)
responsibility, so its rich social responsibility helps in the Publishing
construction of the theory. (3) Accessibility of information. General Library
As an enterprise with strong economic strength and
development potential, Tencent has attracted much attention 5 Zhongzheng.com Summary of major changes and
from society and has a high degree of public disclosure, financial situation of Tencent
enterprises in recent five years
which is conducive to the collection of research data to (finishing documents with more than
ensure the feasibility of this study. 10,000 words)
C. Data collection IV. CASE STUDIES
This study follows the principle of "triangulation and
cross-evidence" in data collection, and collects relevant data A. Case description
from enterprises through various channels such as collecting Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Company Limited
internal information, sorting through news reports, collating was founded in November 1998 by Ma Huateng and five
interview records and reviewing relevant literature (see other founders and is headquartered in Shenzhen. In
Table I for detailed data sources), so as to ensure sufficient February 1999, QQ, an instant messaging software based on
data support for this study, and to enable the data from Internet, was launched. In February 2001, QQ's highest
various parties to cross-evaluate each other and enhance the number of simultaneous online user accounts exceeded 1
credibility of the data obtained. The credibility of the data million, and in June of the same year, it was invested by
obtained is enhanced. MIH. From 2003 to 2005, it successively launched QQ Show,
QQ mailbox, QQ games, QQ space, QQ music and

384

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 integrated portal site QQ.com. In June 2006, QQ.com policy of "double reduction and double fight" for healthy
became the first portal in China. 2007, Tencent Charity gaming among minors.
Foundation was established to promote charity projects. In
August 2013, Tencent launched WeChat Pay, WeChat and B. The coding process
QQ Mobile Game Center, and in December of the same year, The core and key process of rooting theory is coding,
became the world's highest revenue game developer and which consists of 3 levels: open coding, spindle coding and
operator. 2014 to 2017, Tencent established a number of selective coding. Open coding is the operationalization
industries, including affiliate WeiZhong Bank, Tencent process of breaking up the collected data, assigning concepts
Pictures and Enterprise Pictures, and the number of monthly to them and then putting them back together in a new way.
active accounts and average daily transactions for mobile The aim is to discover conceptual genera from the data, to
payments exceeded 600 million. 2018 to date, Tencent's name the genera, to identify the attributes and dimensions of
annual revenue has continued to reach record highs, and the the genera, and then to name and sort the phenomena under
number of active In April 2021, Tencent unveiled its new study. The process of spatial coding is the discovery and
blueprint, with "Sustainable Social Value Innovation" as its establishment of various links between conceptual genera in
core strategy and an initial investment of RMB 50 billion to order to represent the organic connections between the
support its development. various parts of the material. The selective coding process
Although Tencent is growing rapidly and industry involves the systematic analysis of all the discovered
professionals generally believe that Tencent's growth conceptual genera and the selection of a 'core genus', with
potential is still huge, its rapid expansion has also led to the analysis continually focusing on the code numbers
hidden problems such as user privacy leaks and online game associated with the core genus [9].
addiction among minors, prompting discussions on social This study primarily used manual coding, aided by
responsibility among digital platform companies. In response, qualitative research software NVIVO 11.0, to code the data.
Tencent has set up a user control button to provide users with The theoretical construction of the social responsibility of
a "one-click" and highly simplified technical solution for platform enterprises was carried out through continuous
protecting user privacy. In order to address undesirable analysis and comparison of the data. The coding results are
gaming behavior among minors, Tencent has launched a new presented in Table II.
TABLE II. CODING OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ELEMENTS FOR DIGITAL PLATFORM-BASED COMPANIES
Principal Selective Open coding Content
axis coding coding
Platform Attach Strengthen enterprise Tencent has published more than 45,000 patent applications in major countries and regions
building importance to self-research around the world.
responsibility research Increase investment in Tencent has more than ten outstanding scientists and engineers.
investment talents
Cultivating scientific Tencent Foundation funded the establishment of the first scientific and technological public
talents welfare project "Scientific Exploration Award" set up by Internet companies.
Expand Expand scale Tencent has more than one million servers running in the whole network, and is the first
infrastructure development company in China to operate more than one million servers.
layout Increase technological The core competence and advantages of Tencent data center are not only large capacity and
innovation scale, but also high efficiency, low energy consumption and security.
System service Tencent builds a security immune system from the four dimensions of "intelligence-attack
upgrade and defense-management-planning"
Maintain Establish the concept Tencent regards user information security and privacy protection as its lifeline, and abides by
information of privacy protection laws and regulations and digital order.
security Provide privacy Tencent's privacy protection platform has been upgraded, and columns such as user center
protection services and product privacy design have been added to provide users with privacy management
guidelines for specific products.
Online intellectual Tencent launched an intellectual property platform to disseminate policies and information in
property platform the field of intellectual property protection, and help users improve their knowledge and
ability of intellectual property protection.
Platform Promote Digital ecology co- Tencent not only provides technical applications for developers, partners and customers, but
innovation digital construction also provides all-round support including promotion, service, training and investment.
responsibility transformation Join the digital Tencent was selected as a digital transformation partner and launched the "Digital Ark"
transformation program.
Create digital Tencent actively plays the role of the Internet industry in "stable employment" and
employment vigorously improves its digital employment and entrepreneurship service capabilities.
Promote Online video number The online video number of WeChat adheres to the rule of "all-round opening, equality for
digital culture all, and original protection"
Upgrade the uninsured Tencent took the lead in establishing a minor protection system, and launched solutions such
system as growth guard platform and health system.
Expand the social Tencent games released a brand-new value concept: "To discover, infinite possibilities", and
value of games. upgraded "functional games" to "dream-chasing plan"
Build a smart Set up epidemic When the epidemic broke out, Tencent quickly supported government departments to launch
ecology service platform epidemic prevention and health codes and other epidemic services, and set up a national
together epidemic service platform.

385

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Explore smart cities Tencent put forward a people-centered urban governance model-"We City Future City",
aiming at reconstructing urban space with digital technology.
Platform Commitment Build a public welfare Tencent Foundation also takes supporting industry development and advocating donation
sharing to public platform culture as an important direction, and takes Tencent public welfare platform as a key path.
responsibility welfare and Promote digitalization In 2020, Tencent Foundation announced the launch of the "Science and Technology Public
charity of public welfare Welfare Plan" and launched a number of "Science and Technology Public Welfare" cases
spontaneously emerging within Tencent.
Help to reduce Stimulate the sales Through creative content such as pictures, short videos, live broadcasts, etc., supplemented
poverty and power of rural by the input of traffic resources, rural characteristic products and resources can be seen more
promote products. easily.
agriculture Enhance the influence Tencent fully tapped the endowment of rural cultural resources and expanded the cultural
of rural culture influence of poverty-stricken areas with the help of game platforms.
Promote Introduce "aging- Tencent supported the upgrade of "Yuekang Code" to create a "health and epidemic
digital friendly" digital prevention verification system", and took the lead in launching ID card access registration
inclusion products and code verification service in China.
Information barrier- Tencent adheres to the development philosophy of "user-oriented, science and technology
free concept oriented", and is committed to inclusive product design, so that special groups can participate
in production and life equally.
Practise Achieve low-carbon Tencent explores and practices green and low-carbon operation by comprehensively
environmental operation promoting informatization and paperless office and intelligent energy management of
protection and headquarters buildings.
low carbon Conservation of With Tencent's technology to help protect habitats, in January 2020, Guangzhou Haizhu
biological diversity National Wetland Park, one of the four pearls of the National Wetland Park, held hands with
Tencent Cloud.
From the point of view of maintaining information
C. Theoretical analysis
security, users need to use personal information to register
According to the above coding results, the social when using the platform, so companies have access to a large
responsibility of digital platform-based enterprises includes amount of user information. In order to ensure the safety of
three aspects: platform building responsibility, platform user information, enterprises not only need to set rules to
innovation responsibility and platform sharing responsibility. regulate their employees to prevent them from selling user
1) Platform building responsibility information illegally for profit, but also need to build high-
Platform building responsibility refers to digital quality protection systems to resist hacker attacks and
platform-based enterprises building high-quality service prevent data leakage to avoid negative impacts on the
platforms, carrying out platform scale expansion and enterprise. For example, Tencent has designed six privacy
technological innovation, and providing a platform basis for protection principles and summarized Tencent's "Person
service transactions between supply and demand. Platform Button Data" privacy protection methodology to protect the
construction responsibility is the basic social responsibility rights of users.
of digital platform enterprises at the platform level. Platform 2) Platform innovation responsibility
construction responsibility can be divided into three aspects: Platform innovation responsibility means that digital
attaching importance to research investment, expanding platform-based enterprises take it as their essential
infrastructure layout and maintaining information security. responsibility to provide quality digital services for the
In terms of the importance attached to investment in upgrading of the real economy, social services and online
scientific research, science and technology innovation is an culture, and on this basis pursue continuous innovation and
important driving force for economic growth, social integrate this concept into their production and business
construction and life enhancement. In the overall picture of activities. Platform innovation responsibility is the key social
China's modernization, science and technology innovation is responsibility of digital platform enterprises at the platform
at the heart of it. Only by keeping pace with the advancement level. Platform innovation responsibility can be divided into
of technology and information technology, constantly three parts: promoting digital transformation, promoting
iterating and upgrading, and increasing investment in human digital culture and building a smart ecology together.
resources, can enterprises maintain their advanced status. In terms of driving digital transformation, digital
In terms of expanding the infrastructure layout, new transformation is a must for the survival of Micro, Small, and
infrastructure is the cornerstone of the digital economy. In Medium Enterprises. Generally speaking, the lack of
recent years, the state has attached importance to high- transformation capabilities, high costs and long business
quality economic and social development and continued to adaptation and pain periods are the reasons for the
promote the layout of new infrastructure, which also raises difficulties of transformation for Micro, Small, and Medium
expectations for enterprises to actively participate in new Enterprises. Therefore, digital platform enterprises should
infrastructure. Digital platform enterprises need to actively join the Digital Transformation Partnership Initiative,
continuously maintain and upgrade their platforms, and not not only to provide technology applications for partners and
only have experience in the construction and operation of customers, but also to provide them with all-round support
large-scale data centers, but also have excellent big data such as investment and promotion, in order to build a digital
products and the ability to serve diversified scenarios to ecology together. Secondly, it is also the responsibility of
guarantee the stability of platform operation and the cutting- platform companies to promote the digital economy and
edge of platform technology. employment, and to promote the digital transformation of

386

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 workers' skills. The platform-based and flexible new
employment form of digital platform enterprises is an
important vehicle for achieving stable employment in the
post-epidemic era. For example, Tencent is actively playing
its role in "stabilizing employment" by vigorously enhancing
its digital employment and entrepreneurship service
capabilities, helping to achieve higher quality and fuller
employment.
In terms of promoting digital culture, it is ubiquitous and
includes not only content products such as film and
television, music, literature, animation and games, but also
manifests itself in the various types of information produced
and circulated by various parties on platforms, and even
permeates application scenarios such as social media,
lifestyle services and corporate services, exerting a subtle
influence as a way of life. In the past few years, the physical
barrier brought about by the epidemic has accentuated the
social value of digital culture. Digital platform companies
need to take an active role in digital communication channels,
content carriers and ecological regulation to expand the
social value of digital culture and promote a new, healthy
and vibrant digital culture for all parties.
In terms of building a smart ecology together, in the
context of the epidemic, digital technologies such as big data,
artificial intelligence and blockchain, as well as online tools
such as instant messaging, applets and web conferencing,
continue to play a helping hand in many aspects of social
governance such as epidemic prevention and control,
resumption of work and school, transportation and social
assistance. As the smallest cell of social governance, the
community is a key part of the city's digital development.
Digital platform companies need to empower grassroots
community governance through their technological
capabilities, giving full play to the effectiveness of digital
technology and helping to explore a more systematic, refined
and scientific future of urban and rural community
governance. Secondly, the rapid urbanization process and the
need to improve the quality of residents' lives have placed
higher demands on the sustainable development of cities. As
a modern solution to urban governance, smart cities have
become an inevitable trend for urban development in the
digital era. Mathematical platform enterprises need to
reconfigure urban space with digital technology, devote
themselves to the deep integration of urban development
needs and digital technology applications, and explore the
development mode of smart cities.
3) Platform shared responsibility
Platform shared responsibility means that digital platform
companies integrate their achievable development goals into
their corporate social responsibility strategies and actively
participate in public welfare and charity, thereby sharing
social responsibility and promoting social well-being.
Platform shared responsibility is the additional social
responsibility of digital platform enterprises at the platform
level. Platform shared responsibility can be divided into four
areas: commitment to public welfare and charity, helping to
reduce poverty and promote agriculture, promoting digital
inclusion and practicing environmental protection and low
carbon.
387
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
In terms of commitment to public charity, public charity
is an important way for platform-based companies to
practice social responsibility. In the post-epidemic era,
digitalization has become an urgent need that cannot be
bypassed in all sectors. Platform-based enterprises can not
only use their core capabilities such as data, products and
platform advantages to help make charity transparent,
accurate and sustainable, but also build public welfare
platforms and open up online donation channels to achieve
"public welfare for all".
From the perspective of helping to reduce poverty and
promote agriculture, Tencent in this case started at the stage
of attacking the cause of poverty alleviation and
development in China, and its investment in the field of
social responsibility has been closely related to the
countryside since the start of its business. From the consumer
Internet to the industrial Internet, Tencent's work to help the
poor and rural areas has been upgraded along with its
corporate strategy, from charity to consumer and industrial
poverty alleviation, and from helping to improve material
life to helping to improve rural governance and cultural and
educational standards. After its development and growth, the
digital platform needs to continue to dig deeper into its
digital capabilities to explore ideas and provide assistance to
consolidate the results of poverty eradication and promote
balanced urban and rural development.
From the perspective of advocating digital inclusion,
according to the Statistical Report on the Development
Status of the Internet in China, as of June 2022, the number
of Internet users in China reached 1.051 billion, and the
Internet penetration rate reached 74.4%. Although after
nearly three decades of rapid development and popularity,
digitalization has long penetrated into the life scenes of
almost every ordinary person, it has not yet been able to be
deeply popularized among various groups of people, such as
the elderly, the poor and those with dyslexia. Digital
platform companies should try to design age-appropriate and
inclusive products and services, pay attention to the digital
lives of the elderly and special groups, and use their own
technological research and development and digital
technology to help build a barrier-free society.
From the perspective of practicing environmental
protection and low carbon, globalized social responsibility
issues such as carbon emissions, climate change and
ecological diversity have always been of great concern.
Digital platform companies can not only insist on green and
low-carbon operations, and continue to optimize and
improve data center energy-saving technologies, green and
intelligent office buildings, and paperless corporate offices,
but can also promote ecological and environmental
protection innovations with their digital technology and
product capabilities. For example, Tencent has designed
environmental protection activities such as the WeChat
10,000 Steps "Donate Steps" campaign and marine litter
clean-up volunteering services to continue to grow its team
to fulfil its responsibilities and work together to build a low-
carbon future.
 4) Theoretical saturation test TABLE V. THE SECOND-LEVEL EVALUATION INDEX SCORE OF SANQI
FROM 2016 TO 2020
In order to ensure the saturation of the study, this study
will cite the data in the literature of "Research on the evaluating Score in each year
Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility of Internet indicator 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Platforms - Taking Sanqi as an Example" [10] for regression profitability 3.0595 3.0759 2.9205 3.5395 3.7315
analysis to establish a multiple linear regression equation debt paying 2.9500 3.0056 2.8050 3.2057 3.5209
model. Regression analysis is a statistical analysis method ability
used to study the interdependence between multiple variables Green sustainable 1.9050 2.0510 2.2085 2.8285 2.9024
[11]. development
Shareholder 2.8170 2.9017 2.7217 3.8200 3.8768
In the cited literature, the authors first used the responsibility
hierarchical analysis method to derive the weights of each employees 2.1354 2.3102 2.6041 3.1103 3.3705
evaluation element, and divided the level of social responsibility
responsibility into four levels: "excellent performance level", User 2.7127 2.7704 2.8200 2.9751 3.2057
responsibility
"good performance level", "average performance level" and
IPR 3.2439 2.8302 2.8719 2.9264 3.2064
"poor performance level". The authors first used hierarchical
Public 2.7165 2.7630 2.8415 2.9971 3.0207
analysis to derive the weights of each evaluation factor and responsibility
divided the level of social responsibility into four levels: Government 2.7382 2.8025 3.0075 3.3027 3.4743
"excellent", "good", "average" and "poor", and then assigned responsibility
them to 4, 3, 2 and 1, as shown in Table III. management 2.8085 2.8586 2.9865 3.1078 3.2638
structure
TABLE III. EVALUATION ASSIGNMENT TABLE Responsibility 3.1000 3.1671 3.2603 3.3210 3.5801
communication
serial number conclusion score Overall evaluation 2.8482 2.9027 3.0102 3.3810 3.6194
1 excellent 4
In order to study the multiple linear relationship between
2 good 3
the overall evaluation indicators and the first level evaluation
3 average 2 indicators of the enterprise, let the linear regression model of
4 poor 1
the overall evaluation y and the general variables x1, x2, x3, x4
be as follows:

Secondly, 20 experts were invited to score each indicator y = β0 + β1x1 + β2x2 + β3x3 + β4x4 + ϵ 
of the studied corporate social responsibility, thus obtaining
the statistical results of the single-factor indicators. The Where β0, β1, β2, β3 and β4 are the five unknown
scores of each primary evaluation indicator and secondary parameters. β0 are called regression constants. β0, β1, β2 and
evaluation indicator were then calculated based on the β3 are called the regression coefficient; y is called the
combination of the local weight values and the single-factor dependent variable and represents the overall firm indicator,
evaluation matrix. a summary of the primary evaluation and x1, x2, x3 and x4 are called independent variables,
indicator scores from 2016 to 2020 is shown in Table IV, representing financial, environmental protection, social
and a summary of the primary evaluation indicator scores responsibility and corporate governance in the first level
from 2016 to 2020 is shown in Table V. evaluation indicators respectively.
As a result of obtaining 5 years of observational data that
TABLE IV. THE FIRST-LEVEL EVALUATION INDEX SCORE OF SANQI
FROM 2016 TO 2020
that xi1, xi2, xi3, xi4, yi (i=1,2,3,4,5), the linear regression
model (1) can be expressed as:
evaluating Score in each year
indicator
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 y1 = β0 + β1x11 + β2x12 + β3x13 + β4x14 + ϵ
financial 3.0077 3.0147 2.8907 3.4607 3.6311
y2 = β0 + β1x21 + β2x22 + β3x23 + β4x24 + ϵ
affairs y3 = β0 + β1x31 + β2x32 + β3x33 + β4x34 + ϵ （2）
environmental 1.9050 2.0510 2.2085 2.8285 2.9024 y4 = β0 + β1x41 + β2x42 + β3x43 + β4x44 + ϵ
protection y5 = β0 + β1x51 + β2x52 + β3x53 + β4x54 + ϵ
social 3.3008 3.3918 3.4002 3.6208 3.7840
responsibility
The regression coefficients were calculated with the help
corporate 2.9918 3.0128 3.1769 3.2419 3.4079
governance of the mathematical software SPSS and the results of the
Overall 2.8482 2.9027 3.0102 3.3810 3.6194 runs are shown in Table VI.
evaluation

388

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 TABLE VI. TABLE OF COEFFICIENTS OF DEPENDENT VARIABLES
model Non-standardized coefficient Standardization coefficient t significance
B Standard error Beta
1 (constant) -1.563 0.000 0.000 0.000
financial affairs 0.359 0.000 0.349 0.000 0.000
environmental protection 0.108 0.000 0.148 0.000 0.000
social responsibility 0.211 0.000 0.125 0.000 0.000
corporate governance 0.812 0.000 0.418 0.000 0.000
a. dependent variables: overall evaluation

The table of coefficients for this dependent variable

shows that the sig. of each factor is <0.05, indicating that all
four factors have a significant effect on the dependent
variable. The results of the linear regression equation can
therefore be obtained as:

y = -1.563 + 0.359x1 + 0.108x2 + 0.211x3 + 0.812x4 (3)

From the results of the equation, it can be seen that, for

Sanqi, each unit increase in the proportion of influence of
finance, environmental protection, social responsibility and
corporate governance as independent variables has a positive
influence on the overall evaluation of the company, and the
degree of influence is in descending order of corporate
governance, finance, social responsibility and environmental
protection. It can therefore be concluded that the three types
of responsibility classified in this study have a positive
impact on corporate social responsibility governance.
Figure 3. Trend graph of environmental protection element scores
As shown in Figure 3, the evaluation score for the
environmental protection element is increasing year on year,
which shows that the company's awareness of environmental
protection is gradually increasing and energy utilization
efficiency is being improved as the company expands in size.
The data shows that Sanqi has continued to make progress in
energy utilization, improving nearly threefold from 2017 to
2020. Moreover, the company continuously assesses the
environment in which its suppliers are located, eliminating
negative environmental impacts and actions in the supply
chain. The environmental protection element can be
attributed to the shared responsibility of the platform in this
study, and is also an additional social responsibility at the
platform level, which the company only has the spare
production capacity to fulfil when it reaches a certain level of
scale.

Figure 2. Trend graph of financial affairs element scores

The financial element can be attributed to the platform

building responsibility in this study, as shown in Figure 2,the
financial dimension score of Sanqi Entertainment from 2016
to 2020 basically shows an upward trend and a higher
starting point, which shows that the financial element is the
basic condition for the company to fulfill its social
responsibility, and only after meeting the most basic
condition, the company has the ability to reach a higher level
of social responsibility.

Figure 4. Trend graph of social resonsibility element scores

389

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Among the social responsibility elements, shareholder
responsibility, employee responsibility and user
responsibility can be attributed to platform construction
responsibility, intellectual property protection can be
attributed to platform innovation responsibility and public
responsibility can be attributed to platform sharing
responsibility. From the data in Table 4, it can be seen that
the score level of the social responsibility element of Sanqi
Huangyi occupies the first place among the other elements
and is overall higher than the overall evaluation level of the
company. However, it can be seen from Figure 4 that there
are large differences in platforms between each secondary
indicator, for example, although the responsibility for
intellectual property rights has regressed after a higher
starting point, but then the company is committed to
continuously improving its innovation capability, which
shows that the responsibility for innovation is a key
responsibility of platform companies and is an inexhaustible
driving force for their development.
Figure 5. Trend graph of corporate governance element scores
As shown in Figure 5, the scores for each secondary
indicator have risen year on year, showing that the company
has gradually developed a complete corporate system to
fulfil its responsibility of building a high level platform.
V. CONCLUSION
A. Key findings
As a special type of platform organization, platform-
based enterprises, which have developed rapidly in recent
years, need to take on both traditional social responsibility
and platform social responsibility. The existing social
responsibility theories are unable to define and guide the
requirements and implementation of platform social
responsibility. This paper explores the social responsibility
requirements of digital platform enterprises using a single-
case analysis and a grounded theory case study approach. It
is found that the platform social responsibility of platform-
based enterprises includes three aspects: platform
construction responsibility, platform innovation
responsibility and platform sharing responsibility. Among
them, platform construction responsibility includes three
dimensions of attaching importance to research investment,
expanding infrastructure layout and maintaining information
390
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
security; platform innovation responsibility includes three
dimensions of promoting digital transformation, fostering
digital culture and building smart ecology; platform sharing
responsibility includes four dimensions of devoting to public
welfare and charity, helping to reduce poverty and promote
agriculture, advocating digital inclusion and practicing
environmental protection and low carbon. Platform
construction, platform innovation and platform sharing are
the basic social responsibility requirements, key social
responsibility requirements and additional social
responsibility requirements of the common enterprises at the
platform level respectively, and have a positive impact on the
social responsibility governance of platform enterprises.
B. Management Insights
In the initial stage of development of digital platform-
based enterprises, platform enterprises should firstly pay
attention to investment in scientific research, build the core
technological competitiveness of the enterprise, secondly
increase investment in talents, gradually expand the scale of
development and, most importantly, maintain the
information security of the platform, protect users' personal
privacy and safeguard their rights and interests. At the stage
of rapid expansion of digital platform-based enterprises,
platform enterprises should increase technological
innovation, constantly update and maintain the platform
system, join the digital transformation, build a digital
ecology together, and use the digital platform to spread
digital culture and realize the social value of digital products.
At the stage of maturity of the digital platform-type
enterprise system, the platform has formed a set of operation
system suitable for itself. Platform enterprises should not be
limited to the traditional social responsibility, but should
fulfill the social responsibility of the platform in the era of
digital economy, constantly using digital technology to help
public welfare and charity, poverty reduction and agriculture,
using digital products to bring convenience to special people,
and using digital methods to realize environmental carpets.
C. Research limitations and future prospects
This study has the following shortcomings. (1)
Limitations of single-case studies. Although Tencent, as a
typical digital platform enterprise, has a strong representation
of its platform social responsibility in the digital platform
field, the research findings based on the Tencent case study
alone still face challenges in terms of generalizability. (2)
The case data contains only secondary data and is mainly
qualitative, and the subjectivity of the researcher in the data
coding process poses a certain influence on the research
findings.
There are still many directions to be explored in digital
platform social responsibility. More case studies can be
collected to verify the theories constructed through
comparative studies; or multiple case studies can be
conducted to more comprehensively explore the elements of
digital platform social responsibility and enhance the
research credibility and theoretical saturation.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is supported by the National innovation and
entrepreneurship training program for college students (No.
S202210497114).
REFERENCES
[1] Xing Xiaoqiang,Tang Xinhui,Wang Jue,Zhang Zhu. Digital platform
fulfillment of responsibility and shared value creation - a case study
based on byte-hopping poverty alleviation[J]. Management
World,2021,37(12):152-176.
[2] Tang, C.H., Mak, H.H., Liu, H.. Self-governance of corporate social
responsibility on Internet platforms: the case of Tencent[J]. Business
and Management, 2022(08):44-48.
[3] Su M. M.,Ye Y. Research on the social responsibility governance of
platform enterprises: connotation, motivation and model[J]. Finance
and Accounting Monthly,2022(19):135-143.
[4] Evans, P. and Gawer, A. , 2016, The Rise of the Platform Enterprise:
A Global Survey, New York: The Center for Global Enterprise.
391
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ Complutense de Madrid. Downloaded on January 16,2024 at 16:05:46 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[5] Xiao Hongjun,Li Ping. Ecological governance of platform-based
corporate social responsibility[J]. Management
World,2019,35(04):120-144+196.
[6] He Shihao,Sun Haiyao. A study of platform social responsibility of
sharing economy enterprises--a case study based on Drip Travel[J].
Technology and Industry,2020,20(10):8-15.
[7] Du Xiaojun,Yang Bo,Ren Qingyang. A study on boundary spanning
strategies of Chinese firms to overcome outsider disadvantage based
on rooting theory[J]. Management Science,2015,28(02):12-26.
[8] Chen Xiangming. Ideas and methods of rooted theory[J]. Educational
Research and Experimentation,1999(04):58-63+73.
[9] Du Xiaojun,Liu He. A study on the identification of key risks of
overseas mergers and acquisitions of Chinese companies based on
rooting theory[J]. Management Review,2012,24(04):18-27.
[10] Ding Cai Bin. Research on the evaluation of social responsibility of
Internet platform enterprises [D]. Shandong Institute of Technology
and Industry, 2022.
[11] You Soldier,Yan Yan. Stepwise regression analysis method and its
application[J]. Statistics and Decision Making,2017(14):31-35.