Why do corporate social responsibility‐oriented companies opt for bond debt? Evidence from crisis periods

Abstract

Using a large panel of 19,208 listed companies across 40 countries, we investigate the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and bond debt issuance through two main channels: information asymmetry and monitoring. The information asymmetry channel supports that CSR helps firms exhibit more transparency and thereby opt for bond debt. On the other side, the monitoring channel stipulates that CSR makes managers less inclined to engage in value‐diverting activity which makes worthless the scrutiny of banks' monitoring. Results hold after conducting a series of robustness tests and a cross‐sectional heterogeneity analysis at the country level. In addition, the positive relationship between CSR and bond debt is tested in the pre‐ during‐ and post‐ global financial crisis. The relation is more pronounced (i) during periods of uncertainty, (ii) for countries with better informational environment and (iii) for countries with higher levels of agency costs. Overall, our findings are of interest to managers, investors, and policymakers as they show the benefits of CSR commitment during crisis periods marked by a strong need for trust and for more responsible finance.

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