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Peer-firm strategies are a critical factor for corporate finance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the main trend for evaluating the behavior of firms. On the basis of the connection between peer strategy and CSR, this paper explores the CSR strategies employed by a sample of Chinese firms during the 2008–2015 period. Our two main empirical findings are as follows. First, the CSR strategies of firms have a positive effect on their CSR behavior. Second, when there is the CSR gap between firms and peer firms, firms will feel the pressure from stakeholders and the public and improve the level of CSR performance. Our paper enriches empirical research on the CSR behavior of Chinese firms.
Shenggang Yang; Heng Ye; Qi Zhu. Do Peer Firms Affect Firm Corporate Social Responsibility? Sustainability 2017, 9, 1967 .
AMA StyleShenggang Yang, Heng Ye, Qi Zhu. Do Peer Firms Affect Firm Corporate Social Responsibility? Sustainability. 2017; 9 (11):1967.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShenggang Yang; Heng Ye; Qi Zhu. 2017. "Do Peer Firms Affect Firm Corporate Social Responsibility?" Sustainability 9, no. 11: 1967.
How do creditors view the existence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies? Our study investigates the effect of CSR on information asymmetry between firms and creditors. Using Chinese listed firms as samples, our paper adopts propensity score matching to reconstruct the new samples to randomly assign CSR reportage to firms. We then use a differences-in-differences approach to construct our hypotheses as follows. First, firms that employ CSR strategies possess higher leverage than firms that do not. Second, the presence of CSR reports reduces the speed of capital structure adjustment, and the adjustment speeds of above-target leverage firms tend to be slower than those of below-target leverage firms. Third, CSR reports provide long-term predictions to creditors, enabling firms that issue them to maintain higher long-term leverage compared with firms that do not incorporate CSR into their operations. In summary, on the basis of causal inference, we conclude that CSR can considerably reduce information asymmetry between firms and creditors.
Shenggang Yang; Feiying He; Qi Zhu; Shihao Li. How does corporate social responsibility change capital structure? Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics 2017, 25, 352 -387.
AMA StyleShenggang Yang, Feiying He, Qi Zhu, Shihao Li. How does corporate social responsibility change capital structure? Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics. 2017; 25 (3-4):352-387.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShenggang Yang; Feiying He; Qi Zhu; Shihao Li. 2017. "How does corporate social responsibility change capital structure?" Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics 25, no. 3-4: 352-387.