IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finmgt/v43y2014i3p505-531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Improve Credit Ratings? Evidence from Geographic Identification

Author

Listed:
  • Pornsit Jiraporn
  • Napatsorn Jiraporn
  • Adisak Boeprasert
  • Kiyoung Chang

Abstract

type="main"> We show that a firm's CSR policy is significantly influenced by the CSR policies of firms in the same three-digit zip code, an effect possibly due to investor clienteles, local competition, and/or social interactions. We then exploit the variation in CSR across the zip codes to estimate the effect of CSR on credit ratings under the assumption that zip code assignments are exogenous. We find that more socially responsible firms enjoy more favorable credit ratings. In particular, an increase in CSR by one standard deviation improves the firm's credit rating by as much as 4.5%.

Suggested Citation

  • Pornsit Jiraporn & Napatsorn Jiraporn & Adisak Boeprasert & Kiyoung Chang, 2014. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Improve Credit Ratings? Evidence from Geographic Identification," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 505-531, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:finmgt:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:505-531
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/fima.12044
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    2. Navarro, Peter, 1988. "Why Do Corporations Give to Charity?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 65-93, January.
    3. Darren D. Lee & Robert W. Faff, 2009. "Corporate Sustainability Performance and Idiosyncratic Risk: A Global Perspective," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 213-237, May.
    4. Bradley W. Benson & Wallace N. Davidson, 2010. "The Relation between Stakeholder Management, Firm Value, and CEO Compensation: A Test of Enlightened Value Maximization," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 929-964, September.
    5. Mark P. Sharfman & Chitru S. Fernando, 2008. "Environmental risk management and the cost of capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 569-592, June.
    6. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    7. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1986. "Price and Advertising Signals of Product Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 796-821, August.
    8. Teoh, Siew Hong & Welch, Ivo & Wazzan, C Paul, 1999. "The Effect of Socially Activist Investment Policies on the Financial Markets: Evidence from the South African Boycott," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 35-89, January.
    9. Natalie J. WEBB & Amy FARMER, 1996. "Corporate Goodwill:," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 29-50, March.
    10. Uysal, Vahap B. & Kedia, Simi & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh, 2008. "Geography and acquirer returns," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 256-275, April.
    11. Laura T. Starks, 2009. "EFA Keynote Speech: “Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: What Do Investors Care about? What Should Investors Care about?”," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(4), pages 461-468, November.
    12. Deng, Xin & Kang, Jun-koo & Low, Buen Sin, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 87-109.
    13. Wenlian Gao & Lilian Ng & Qinghai Wang, 2011. "Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Firm Capital Structure?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 113-138, March.
    14. Liu, Yixin & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2010. "The effect of CEO power on bond ratings and yields," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 744-762, September.
    15. Lamy, Robert E. & Thompson, G. Rodney, 1988. "Risk premia and the pricing of primary issue bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 585-601, December.
    16. Kangtao Ye & Ran Zhang, 2011. "Do Lenders Value Corporate Social Responsibility? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 197-206, December.
    17. Peter Wright & Stephen P. Ferris, 1997. "Agency Conflict And Corporate Strategy: The Effect Of Divestment On Corporate Value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 77-83, January.
    18. Klock, Mark S. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Maxwell, William F., 2005. "Does Corporate Governance Matter to Bondholders?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(4), pages 693-719, December.
    19. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Mishra, Dev R., 2011. "Does corporate social responsibility affect the cost of capital?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2388-2406, September.
    20. Boardman, Calvin M. & McEnally, Richard W., 1981. "Factors Affecting Seasoned Corporate Bond Prices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 207-226, June.
    21. Massimo Massa & Andrei Simonov, 2006. "Hedging, Familiarity and Portfolio Choice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 633-685.
    22. Ran Zhang & Jigao Zhu & Heng Yue & Chunyan Zhu, 2010. "Corporate Philanthropic Giving, Advertising Intensity, and Industry Competition Level," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 39-52, June.
    23. Jiao, Yawen, 2010. "Stakeholder welfare and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2549-2561, October.
    24. Bo Becker & Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2011. "Local Dividend Clienteles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 655-683, April.
    25. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    26. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    27. Christo Pirinsky & Qinghai Wang, 2006. "Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1991-2015, August.
    28. Kasim L. Alli & Gabriel G. Ramirez & Kenneth Yung, 1991. "Corporate Headquarters Relocation: Evidence from the Capital Markets," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(4), pages 583-600, December.
    29. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2003. "Effect of Corporate Governance on Bond Ratings and Yields: The Role of Institutional Investors and Outside Directors," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 455-476, July.
    30. Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2009. "Neighborhood matters: The impact of location on broad based stock option plans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 109-127, April.
    31. Kaplan, Robert S & Urwitz, Gabriel, 1979. "Statistical Models of Bond Ratings: A Methodological Inquiry," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(2), pages 231-261, April.
    32. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    33. Jun‐Koo Kang & Jin‐Mo Kim, 2008. "The Geography of Block Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2817-2858, December.
    34. Edward Miguel & Shanker Satyanath & Ernest Sergenti, 2004. "Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 725-753, August.
    35. Horrigan, Jo, 1966. "Determination Of Long-Term Credit Standing With Financial Ratios," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4, pages 44-62.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2022. "Local peer effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Serkan Karadas & Jorida Papakroni, 2019. "Local predictive ability of analyst recommendations," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 351-371, July.
    3. Yixin Liu & Yilei Zhang & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2016. "Firm Risk-Taking and CEO Visibility," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(03), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Carosi, Andrea, 2016. "Do local causations matter? The effect of firm location on the relations of ROE, R&D, and firm SIZE with MARKET-TO-BOOK," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 388-409.
    5. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Jungwon Suh, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Credit Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(4), pages 679-694, November.
    6. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    7. Guifeng Shi & Jianfei Sun, 2015. "Corporate Bond Covenants and Social Responsibility Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 285-303, October.
    8. Haifei Wang & Hongjun Wu & Peter Humphreys, 2022. "Chinese Merchant Group Culture, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Cost of Debt: Evidence from Private Listed Firms in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Chen, Yunsen & Huang, Jianqiao & Xiao, Sheng & Zhao, Ziye, 2020. "The “home bias” of corporate subsidiary locations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. García, Diego & Norli, Øyvind, 2012. "Geographic dispersion and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 547-565.
    11. Wang, Kun Tracy & Kartika, Fiki & Wang, Wanbin Walter & Luo, Guqiang, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility, investor protection, and the cost of equity: Evidence from East Asia," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    12. Guangming Gong & Si Xu & Xun Gong, 2018. "On the Value of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: An Empirical Investigation of Corporate Bond Issues in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 227-258, June.
    13. Benson, Bradley W. & Chen, Yu & James, Hui L. & Park, Jung Chul, 2020. "So far away from me: Firm location and the managerial ownership effect on firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    15. Yang Zhang, 2018. "Corporate Governance Effects on Risk Management and Shareholder Wealth: The Case of Mergers and Acquisitions," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 4-2018, January-A.
    16. Díaz, Antonio & Escribano, Ana, 2021. "Sustainability premium in energy bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    17. Pornsit Jiraporn & Pandej Chintrakarn & Jang-Chul Kim & Yixin Liu, 2013. "Exploring the Agency Cost of Debt: Evidence from the ISS Governance Standards," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 205-227, October.
    18. Kim, Moshe & Surroca, Jordi & Tribó, Josep A., 2014. "Impact of ethical behavior on syndicated loan rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 122-144.
    19. Kangtao Ye & Ran Zhang, 2011. "Do Lenders Value Corporate Social Responsibility? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 197-206, December.
    20. Min Zhang & Lijun Ma & Jun Su & Wen Zhang, 2014. "Do Suppliers Applaud Corporate Social Performance?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 543-557, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:finmgt:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:505-531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fmaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.