The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) has been crucial in academia and business circles. Numerous construction firms have continued to internationalize construction business over time despite the influence of the COVID-19. The internationalization of construction business makes the CSR–CFP relationship more complicated than usual. Construction firms’ CSR fulfillment serves to engage in reliable relationships with stakeholders and consequently improve CFP. It can bring both benefits and costs to the firm, which suggests that the CSR–CFP relationship is non-linear. This study examines the impacts of CSR on the financial performance of construction firms. We took Chinese-listed construction companies as an example, and an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between CSR and CFP was eventually revealed. Further, the significant moderating role of the degree of corporate internationalization (DOI) in the CSR–CFP relationship is disclosed. The results show that matching a high DOI-high CSR and a low DOI-low CSR is more conducive to CFP promotion. Thus, this research makes contributions to the academic perception of the impacts of CSR and DOI on CFP and provides insights for CSR fulfillment in the international arena.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are a useful approach that allows the public sector to collaborate with private investors in financing, implementing, and operating public sector facilities. Over the past few decades, the occurrence of social risks and the vulnerability of PPP projects to these risks have caused numerous project failures. While practitioners claim to manage the social risks of PPP projects, little effort has been made to explore the proper ways of doing this. In this study, we present a social risk tolerance (SRT) concept and propose a model to quantify the tolerance of PPP projects to social risks. One hundred and twenty-three PPP projects were collected from China for model validation. The results indicate a positive relationship between SRT values and project size and that the SRT has diminishing marginal values. This paper presents a new concept in PPP research and provides an appropriate approach for managing the social risks of PPP projects. The research findings can help both the public and private sectors understand the social risks associated with PPP projects and determine effective countermeasures to control these risks.

Super-supportive CSR behaviors (SSCBs) are integrative actions devised to enhance the effectiveness of CSR initiatives by harmonizing social, environmental, and economic efforts. Despite their strategic role in business operations, SSCBs remain insufficiently addressed, especially within the construction sector. This study utilizes text mining and association rule mining to analyze 211 CSR reports from Chinese construction firms spanning 2010 to 2021. The key findings highlight the pivotal role of 17 SSCBs in strengthening CSR initiatives, revealing three major characteristics: foundational, synergistic, and triggering. Within the construction industry, SSCBs primarily focus on corporate governance, community development, employee welfare, and environmental sustainability, evolving from isolated practices to integrated systems over time. Notably, construction firms tend to adopt SSCB portfolios instead of standalone initiatives. Furthermore, exceeding a certain threshold of SSCBs may increase challenges in coordination and resource allocation. These insights highlight SSCBs as a dynamic, multidimensional construct and provide construction firms with a practical framework to integrate complementary CSR actions, improving coordination, optimizing resources, and strengthening sustainability outcomes in practice.