Corporate social responsibility and access to finance
By: Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou, George Serafeim
Contributors: Ioannou, Ioannis; Serafeim, George; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 11-130; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 11-130
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Boston]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 45
Description: In this paper, we investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to reduced agency costs, due to enhanced stakeholder engagement through CSR and reduced informational asymmetries, due to increased transparency through non-financial reporting. Using a large cross-section of firms, we show that firms with better CSR performance face significantly lower capital constraints. The results are confirmed using an instrumental variables and a simultaneous equations approach. Finally, we find that the relation is primarily driven by social and environmental performance, rather than corporate governance.
Notes: "June 2011" -- Publisher's website.

"May 18th, 2011" -- added t.p.

Includes bibliographical references.