The Research Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences studied the activities of 100 companies and found that just four had reached a level it considered worthy of "five stars", with scores over 80 on a 100 scale.

The average level of quality was a worrying "two stars", with a score at 25.2.

The list of companies included State-owned enterprises, private and foreign enterprises that operated in China.

The findings come at a time when increasing numbers of companies, including some of the nation's best-known organizations, already claim to have achieved sustainable growth while still operating with credibility and integrity, as required by many CSR standards.

China Resources (Holdings) Co Ltd, Amway China, China Mobile Communications Corp, Minsheng Banking Corp and Canon China were listed by the Research Center as having the best-performing CSR policies.

Foreign enterprises, however, were considered as performing better than Chinese State-owned and private enterprises, conducting a lot more higher-quality philanthropic programs.

South Korean multinationals topped the list, followed by those from Germany, the United States and Japan.

Retailing, petroleum manufacturing and banking were listed as the top three sectors fulfilling their CSR duties well, while the metals, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage sectors were the worst in terms of social conduct, said the study.