為什麼企業要發佈永續報告書？從非市場觀點解釋

Why do Firms Publish Sustainability Reports? A Nonmarket Perspective

本研究從非市場的觀點解釋為什麼企業要發佈永續報告書。我們提出當企業所面臨的社會政治環境愈不好，公司愈有可能會發佈永續報告書讓利害關係人瞭解公司在經濟、環境、社會各方面的表現，藉此改善公司在非市場環境中的正當性。本研究認為媒體的不當報導會干擾企業的社會政治環境進而影響其市場運作，因此我們推論回應媒體報導次數愈多的公司，其之後發佈永續報告書的機率也愈大。另外，我們推論社會正當性較低的公司會比較容易受到媒體不當報導的干擾而發佈永續報告書。我們使用2012年到2015年在台灣的公開上市公司，並利用傾向分數分析來驗證我們的推論。我們發現會回應媒體報導的公司，其之後發佈永續報告書的機率比較高，而這個正相關在成立年份較短的公司比成立年份較長的公司還要明顯。同樣地，這個正相關在獲利能力較差的公司也比獲利能力較佳的公司顯著。

This study examines why firms publish sustainability reports from a nonmarket perspective. We propose that when a firm’s sociopolitical environments become hostile, the firm will be more likely to publish sustainability report. By providing stakeholders information regarding the firm’s economic, environmental, and social performance, the firm may gain legitimacy in sociopolitical environments. We propose that media misreport plays a critical role of intervening a firm’s nonmarket environment and then affect the firm’s operation. Therefore, there is a positive relationship between a firm’s media clarification and the likelihood of publishing sustainability reports. The positive relationship is more salient in the case of firms with younger ages or firms with lower profitability. We find supporting evidence based on a sample of publicly listed Taiwanese firms during 2012-2015.