自願性揭露企業社會責任資訊之決定因素與其資訊後果

The Determinants and Consequences of Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure

本研究旨在探討公司自願性揭露企業社會責任資訊之決定因素及其資訊後果。以台灣上市公司為研究對象，並以公司是否編製及發布「企業社會責任報告書」來捕捉此等非財務資訊的自願性揭露。實證結果顯示，「公司特性」中的公司規模、員工人數及產業敏感度與「治理結構」中的董事會規模、總經理未兼任董事長、獨立董監事之設置及機構投資人持股為驅動公司揭露企業社會責任資訊的主要因素。本研究另發現董事席次控制權與現金流量權之偏離程度愈大時，反而愈會驅使公司自願性揭露此社會責任資訊，推測可能係因台灣上市公司多屬集團企業或家族控股，其將社會責任資訊之揭露視為提升企業形象或聲譽的方法，藉以強化小股東的信心，以期減緩潛在的核心代理問題。關於資訊效果方面，實證結果指出藉由報告書的編製來傳遞社會責任資訊的公司能提升其會計資訊之價值攸關性，惟此效果僅存在於財務透明度較高的公司；而若從債權人角度來看，企業社會責任資訊的揭露確實能對提升公司之信用評等及降低負債資金成本帶來實質效益。

This study investigates the determinants and the informational consequences of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, as proxied by the issuance of stand-alone CSR reports. Using a sample of Taiwanese listed firms, we find that voluntary disclosure of CSR information is associated with both firm characteristics (including firm size, numbers of employees and environmentally sensitive industries) and governance structures (including board size, CEO nonduality, the appointment of independent directors / supervisors and institutional ownership). In addition, we also find that the more divergence in seats control and cash flow rights of controlling shareholders are associated with higher probability of firms issuing stand-alone CSR reports. As Taiwanese firms are often controlled by conglomerates or family owned, we thus interpret the results as indicating that these firms would like to enhance corporate images or build their reputations through voluntary CSR disclosure in order to strengthen the belief of minority shareholders and mitigate the core agency problems. As for the consequences of voluntary CSR disclosure, this study shows that the issuance of CSR reports could improve the value relevance of accounting information. However, this evidence exists only for firms with greater financial transparency. Finally, from the creditors' perspective, the results indicate that voluntarily disclosing CSR information brings the benefits of upgrading the credit rating and decreasing the cost of debt capital.