State or Market: Institutional Complexity and CSR Reporting of Chinese Firms ABSTRACT While research on the disclosure of CSR (corporate social responsibility) recognizes the influence of broader institutional pressures, less attention has been given to the co-existence of conflicting pressures and non-mature market contexts. We develop a framework wherein CSR reporting is viewed as an organizational response to institutional complexity and apply it to the adoption and quality of CSR reporting by publicly listed firms in China after the central government-controlled stock exchanges issued guidelines on CSR reporting. A longitudinal analysis between 2008 and 2011 largely supports our framework. As a baseline, institutional linkage to central government and high visibility enhanced a firm’s compliance with the normative pressure from the central government’s guidelines. In addition, institutional pressures from geographic communities conditioned firm response: while the development of provincial market institutions facilitated CSR reporting, provincial government’s priority on GDP growth inhibited it. Moreover, in provinces with conflicting pressures from government’s growth priority and market institutions, firms with links to central government and high visibility exhibited a form of decoupling: they had higher adoption rates but their CSR reports were of reduced quality premium. Our study advances research on how organizations respond to multiple and conflicting institutional pressures and the literature on the disclosure of CSR.