Purpose

This study aims to guide firms in emerging markets on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement facilitates their access to debt with the moderation of asset structure and firm performance. Considering the moderating effect analysis, this study explores the substitutive or complementary effect of these two contingencies on CSR-oriented firms in accessing debt financing.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on data collected for 16 emerging markets between 2008 and 2019, this study runs country–industry–year fixed-effects regression.

Findings

This study finds that CSR performance and reporting facilitate access to debt in emerging markets. However, CSR performance does not have an inverted U-shaped influence on firms’ access to debt financing. The moderation analysis of this study shows that asset tangibility has a negative moderating effect on the link between CSR engagements (i.e. both CSR performance and reporting) and access to debt, confirming a substitutive relationship between asset tangibility and CSR engagements in accessing debt. In contrast, firm performance is positively moderating the nexus between CSR engagement proxies and access to debt, which confirms a complementary type of relationship between firm performance and CSR engagements in accessing debt.

Practical implications

The empirical evidence of this study implies that creditors critically consider CSR engagements of firms in the loan-granting decision process. Similarly, the inverted U-shaped relationship between CSR and access to debt implies that there is an optimal level of CSR engagement creditors might consider in their decision. Likewise, the moderating effects analysis highlights that asset tangibility and firm performance are two conditions under which CSR performance and reporting are linked to access to debt.

Originality/value

Emerging countries are a different set of countries than developed ones; they have high growth rates and hence need financing, have a weaker institutional environment and have weaker stakeholder power. These particularities motivated the authors to conduct a separate study focusing on CSR and debt financing links drawing on a wide range of emerging countries. Thus, this study adds to the ongoing debate by examining the conditions under which CSR-oriented firms can access debt financing in emerging economies.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任绩效和报告是否有助于新兴市场获得债务融资？资产结构和公司绩效的作用

目的

本研究旨在指导新兴市场的企业了解企业社会责任（CSR）参与是否可以通过调整资产结构和企业绩效来促进其获得债务。考虑到调节效应分析，本研究探讨了这两种意外事件对企业社会责任导向型企业获得债务融资的替代或补充效应。

设计/方法论/途径

这项研究利用 2008 年至 2019 年间收集的 16 个新兴市场的数据，进行了国家-行业-年份固定效应回归。

发现

本研究发现，企业社会责任绩效和报告有助于新兴市场获得债务。然而，企业社会责任绩效对企业获得债务融资的机会并没有产生倒U型影响。本研究的调节分析表明，有形资产对企业社会责任参与（即企业社会责任绩效和报告）与获得债务之间的联系具有负面调节作用，证实了有形资产与企业社会责任参与在获得债务方面的替代关系。相比之下，企业绩效正向调节企业社会责任参与代理与获得债务之间的关系，这证实了企业绩效与企业社会责任参与在获取债务方面存在互补关系。

实际影响

本研究的实证证据表明，债权人在贷款决策过程中批判性地考虑企业的企业社会责任参与情况。同样，企业社会责任与获得债务之间的倒U形关系意味着债权人在决策时可能会考虑企业社会责任参与的最佳水平。同样，调节效应分析强调，资产有形性和公司绩效是企业社会责任绩效和报告与获得债务联系起来的两个条件。

原创性/价值

新兴国家是与发达国家不同的一组国家；它们的增长率高，因此需要融资，制度环境较弱，利益相关者的权力较弱。这些特殊性促使作者进行了一项单独的研究，重点关注广泛新兴国家的企业社会责任和债务融资联系。因此，本研究通过研究以企业社会责任为导向的企业在新兴经济体获得债务融资的条件，为正在进行的争论增添了色彩。