企业社会责任信息披露与资本成本的互动关系——基于信息不对称视角的一个分析框架

信息不对称是增加企业资本成本的一个重要因素,企业社会责任信息披露有助于降低信息不对称,从而降低资本成本,但该作用的发挥受制于企业是否真实、适当地进行了社会责任信息披露;而基于较低的资本成本约束,企业社会责任信息披露动机、水平和质量也会受到影响,企业社会责任信息披露与资本成本之间存在互动关系。     

社会责任报告降低了企业权益资本成本吗?——来自中国资本市场的经验证据

本文以上市公司披露社会责任报告的动机为出发点,以权益资本成本为落脚点,探讨社会责任报告对企业权益资本成本的影响及作用机制。研究表明,公司披露社会责任报告有助于降低企业的权益资本成本,并且社会责任报告披露对权益资本成本的影响存在"首次披露"效应;但是对于同样披露了社会责任报告的公司而言,社会责任报告质量的高低对权益资本成本的影响并不显著,机构投资者持股比例对于社会责任报告与权益资本成本的关系也无显著影响。这说明我国投资者已经开始关注社会责任报告信息披露,投资者普遍认为发布社会责任报告传递的是一个有利的信号,但是由于我国企业社会责任报告的质量普遍较低,这些报告给投资者传递的信号并没能降低他们对企业风险的评估。     

碳信息披露与资本成本的关系研究

资本市场上企业的信息披露行为从财务信息披露到非财务信息披露,从企业社会责任报告披露到碳排放披露。企业自愿披露更多的信息都是为了自身利益,包括提高企业价值,降低资本成本等。本文从碳信息披露与资本成本的关系视角出发,以剖析企业的资本成本是否受益于更好的碳信息披露。     

企业社会责任信息披露与权益资本成本

运用理论分析和实证检验的方法从权益资本成本的角度研究我国上市公司企业社会责任信息披露的经济动机.研究发现:上市公司上期权益资本成本越高,本期披露社会责任报告的可能性越大,说明降低权益资本成本是上市公司决定是否披露社会责任报告的重要经济动机;对于首次披露企业社会责任报告的公司,上期权益资本成本越高,本期社会责任信息披露质量越高;但对非首次披露企业社会责任报告的公司来说,披露企业社会责任报告的资本成本动机不显著.     

上市公司社会责任信息披露与股权资本成本相关性研究

我国大部分上市公司都以权益融资为获取资金的主要渠道,因此企业都希望股权融资成本可以保持在理想的水平上。随着社会环境的变化及市场投资者素质水平的提高教资者对公司信息披露的要求也从仅仅专注于公司的财务信息到更关注公司社会责任（CSR）履行情况的信息。本文以深市和沪市A股上市公司为样本,检验了公司社会责任信息披露质量与公司股权资本成本的相关关系。实证结果表明啦会责任信息披露的水平提高可以促进股权资本成本的降低。     

信息披露、外部监督与资本成本——基于中小企业板的实证分析

本文使用深圳证券交易所中小板上市公司2012-2016年度的样本资料,研究信息披露水平与资本成本的关系,与大部分学者的观点一样,分析表明信息披露水平与资本成本负相关.从外部社会监督的角度来看,新闻媒体的关注、机构投资者、分析师等外部治理因素对公司权益资本成本有重大的制约作用.研究结果表明,分析师、机构投资者以及媒体作为我国资本市场极为重要的社会外部监督力量,能够削弱信息披露水平对企业资本成本的敏感度,也就是说,外部监督力量越强,信息披露水平对权益资本成本的影响越小.     

社会责任信息披露对企业资本结构的影响——基于市场竞争度的视角

社会责任信息披露是企业与利益相关者进行沟通的重要渠道,亦是履行企业社会责任的重要手段,外部利益相关者可借此了解企业的经营策略。以2012年沪深两市上市公司为截面样本,通过实证研究发现：企业社会责任信息披露与资本结构之间呈现“U”型结构,且该结构在市场竞争激烈时显著,在市场竞争度低时不显著,说明市场竞争强化了企业社会责任信息披露与资本结构之间的关系。     

控制论在提高会计信息透明度中的应用

在以两权分离为主要特征的现代企业,经营者是天然的超级信息拥有者,而投资者处于信息弱势地位,信息披露有助于缓解资本市场参与者问的信息不对称和促进资源的有效配置。为了满足投资者对会计信息的需求,政府出于资本市场效率和投资者利益保护的考虑,会强制性要求经营者披露相关的信息。投资者通过信息获利,取得直接信息租金。     

我国公司ESG信息披露的制度检视与法治回应

ESG投资理念在资本市场投资活动中受到广泛关注，投资者越发重视公司的社会责任和可持续发展能力，完善ESG信息披露制度具有必要性。尽管我国ESG信息披露的规范和实践情况有一定成效，但报告的数量和质量都存在一定欠缺，主要原因在于披露主体范围较窄、自愿披露的约束力不足、没有第三方鉴证机构对报告进行增信以及虚假陈述责任不够明确，这使得ESG信息披露难以满足投资者日益增长的需求。基于美国、欧盟及中国香港ESG信息披露的发展过程和制度经验，可以考虑通过扩大披露主体范围、实行半强制披露模式、引入第三方独立鉴证以及虚假陈述民事责任精准化等路径进行完善，以减少信息不对称，提升ESG信息质量，充分保障投资者权益。     

上市公司社会责任信息披露与资本成本的互动关系研究

根据现代企业组织理论,企业承担了社会责任就应当履行向社会披露企业信息的义务。社会责任信息扮演着与财务信息类似的角色,即减少信息不对称,降低资本成本。但其又不同于财务信息披露,因此正确认识社会责任信息披露与资本成本之间的关系,有利于促进上市公司积极承担社会责任,降低资本成本,提高其盈利水平。     

The effect of suppliers' corporate social responsibility concerns on customers' stock price crash risk

We investigate the spillover effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concerns along the supply chain. We propose an information incorporation effect for whether suppliers' CSR concerns affect customers' stock price crash risk. Customers' investors can incorporate information about suppliers' CSR into stock price valuations, lowering the probability of abrupt stock price crashes. Our findings support the information incorporation effect. Suppliers' CSR concerns are negatively associated with customers' stock price crash risk. The negative relationship is more pronounced for firms with high media coverage, negative media sentiment, high investor attention, negative investor sentiment, low trade policy uncertainty, and low political uncertainty. Moreover, we rule out the alternative explanation that suppliers' CSR strengths dominate the effect. Our main finding is supported by change analysis and robustness tests, including an alternative measure test.     

The impact of CSR performance and CSR disclosure readability on investors’ earnings estimates

We investigate how the valence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and the readability of CSR disclosure impact investors’ earnings estimates. Ninety-seven part-time MBA students participate in an experiment, in which we manipulate the valence of CSR performance (positive versus neutral) and the readability of CSR reports (high versus low), while holding financial information constant. Our findings reveal that investors make more positive earnings estimates when CSR performance is positive. The readability level of CSR reports also influences investors’ decision-making process. Moreover, by using an eye-tracking device, we are able to observe investors’ different reading behaviours upon the different levels of readability.     

The IPO corporate social responsibility information disclosure: Does the stock market care?

We create textual information indices using corporate social responsibility (CSR) information extracted from IPO prospectuses in China. We use the indices to measure the issuers’ corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate environmental performance (CEP) and assess how the stock market reacts. We find that CSP disclosure is significantly related to the post‐market performance of the firm. Specifically, better CSP disclosure is correlated with higher post‐IPO listing holding period returns among firms that do not disclose donations or environmental expenditures, although the association does not hold for firms that make donations and environmental expenditures. In addition, institutional investors seem to care more about the CEP information for a firm than the CSP information.     

Capital market liberalisation and voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

This paper investigates the impact of the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect (SHSC) scheme on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in China. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we find that companies that participate in the SHSC scheme are more inclined to voluntarily issue CSR reports. This effect is more pronounced for companies that have limited access to international markets and those with weak corporate governance. Additional analyses show that SHSC-connected firms also produce higher quality CSR reports and achieve a better CSR performance. Our findings imply that capital market liberalisation promotes voluntary corporate disclosure for investors.     

Multi-dimensional corporate social responsibilities and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China

Worldwide, there has been an ongoing debate about whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) can lead to better financial market performance, or whether corporations can do well by doing good. Working with a sample of all listed companies in China from 2010 to 2017, this study examines the impacts of three dimensions of CSR on stock price crash risk. We find that CSR, especially firms' responsibility to the environment and stakeholders, significantly reduces stock price crash risk, while social contributions such as charitable donations have no significant effect on stock crash risk. Attracting long-term institutional investors is the primary mechanism through which CSR can curb crash risk. Mitigating earnings management is also a channel through which overall CSR and stakeholder responsibility contribute to a lower stock crash risk. Finally, we find that stakeholder responsibility and environmental responsibility can help improve stock market performance.     

Using corporate social responsibility performance to evaluate financial disclosure credibility

Due to the paucity of immediate and direct information about financial disclosure credibility, it is often difficult for investors to assess the credibility of financial disclosures (e.g. whether reported earnings are biased). Given this situation, the present study proposes and finds that investors use additional cues, such as information about corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, to form overall impressions about management's honesty, credibility, and trustworthiness. Similar to other findings in the halo effect literature, we find that these overall impressions subsequently influence both investors' assessments of financial disclosure credibility and the prices they are willing to pay for a company's stock. The findings support the theoretical framework on financial disclosure credibility by (1) showing that management credibility is an important tool that investors use to assess disclosure credibility and (2) suggesting that management credibility is a multidimensional latent construct for which CSR performance can be one of several relevant indicators.     

Do Financial Markets Care about Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure? Further Evidence from China

Corporations increasingly define their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as a part of their business. However, is this trend beneficial to investors? Based on an event study methodology and a sample of Chinese listed companies, we extend the literature on voluntary disclosure by exploring the role of CSR disclosure in reducing stock market information asymmetry, as proxied by share price volatility and liquidity. Our results show that the share price volatility after CSR disclosure is lower than before CSR disclosure; however, the trend is that it decreases first and then increases for three months following disclosure. Stock liquidity also significantly improves after CSR disclosure; however, it increases first and then decreases. Additionally, by dividing CSR disclosure into economic (hard) disclosure and generic (soft) disclosure, we find that the reduction in information asymmetry is higher for hard disclosure than soft disclosure, suggesting that although CSR disclosure does indeed have an impact on investors’ behaviour in China, an economic‐based disclosure contributes more substantially. Finally, to better understand the characteristics of the Chinese financial market, we also explore the role of marketisation with results that show that the effect in reducing information asymmetry is greater for companies located in a region with a higher degree of marketisation.     

It’s who you know that counts: Board connectedness and CSR performance

We examine whether and how board connections affect the firm's corporate social responsibilities (CSR). Grounded in the agency, resource dependence, and social network theory, our research predicts and finds that board connectedness is positively associated with CSR performance. This result is robust to a quasi-natural experiment, alternative measurement specifications, and an instrumental variable approach. Our findings suggest firms that operate in a complex business environment or require more advising (i.e. where demand for information is greater) benefit more from a well-networked board. Also, firms that are poorly governed, have high stock return volatility, low market capitalization, or low institutional ownership tend to benefit more from the well-connected board when the cost of acquiring information is higher. In addition, we show that independent directors’ abilities to gather information and resources from their networks can facilitate the transmission of information. Collectively, our study documents the informational advantage of a network as the predominant channel that allows a well-connected board to improve a firm’s CSR performance.     

Taste,information, and asset prices: implications for the valuation of CSR

Firms often undertake activities that do not necessarily increase cash flows (e.g., costly investments in corporate social responsibility or CSR), and some investors value these non cash activities (i.e., they have a “taste” for these activities). We develop a model to capture this phenomenon and focus on the asset-pricing implications of differences in investors’ tastes for firms’ activities and outputs. Our model shows that, first, investor taste differences provide a basis for investor clientele effects that are endogenously determined by the shares demanded by different types of investors. Second, because the market must clear at one price, investors’ demands are influenced by all dimensions of firm output even if their preferences are only over some dimensions. Third, information releases cause trading volume, even when all investors have the same information. Fourth, investor taste provides a rationale for corporate spin-offs that help firms better target their shareholder bases. Finally, individual social responsibility can lead to corporate social responsibility when managers care about stock price because price reacts to investments in CSR activities.     

Corporate social responsibility culture and international M&As

We examine the role of corporate culture in M&As by utilizing a unique corporate social responsibility (CSR) dataset, providing in-depth information on multiple dimensions of organizational culture in 22 developed markets. In accordance with the prediction of the culture clash theory, a wider divergence between the CSR corporate cultures of the acquiring and target firms is associated with lower acquirer announcement and long-run returns as well as synergistic gains for the combined firm. Cultural misalignment also increases the time required to finalise a deal, reduces the likelihood of deal completion and the percentage of stock payment. Our results are robust to alternative explanations (e.g., similarities in national culture, acquirer CSR performance, institutional configurations), different regression specifications, and additional cultural misalignment measures. Our findings highlight the importance of the need for a deeper understanding of the role of CSR for the target selection process, integration planning, and financing choice of M&As to corporations and their investors.