獨立董事社會網絡與公司信用評等之關聯性

The relationship of independent directors’social network and corporate credit rating

本研究運用社會網絡分析方法，針對2009年至2018年期間臺灣上市公司董事會任職的獨立董事數據，探討獨立董事社會網絡的中心程度與公司信用評等的關係。實證結果發現獨立董事社會網絡中心度越高，對公司信用評等呈現顯著正向影響，表示獨立董事位居的社會網絡位置越處中心，公司越容易取得外部資源和資訊，且獨立董事越有豐富的人脈關聯，越會使公司作出良好的決策，增強穩健的盈利能力和還款能力，致使帶動公司在市場上信用評等之提升。本研究進一步將公司信用評等按分數高低進行四分位分群，並比較不同群之間的差異，發現公司信用評等較低的公司，獨立董事社會網絡中心度對公司信用評等有顯著的增強效果。

Using the independent directors’dataset from the Taiwan Economic Journal database for the period 2009 to 2018, this study investigates the relationship of independent directors’social network and the firms’credit rating. It finds that the independent directors network centrality is positively relates with the credit ratings. It indicates the higher the network centrality of independent directors, the easier it is for the firm to obtain the external resources and related information, the strong independent directors’social networks can help the firm in decision-making, as well as retain the profitability and repayment ability. We further divided the firm’s credit rating into quartile groups according to the level of rating, and find that firms in the lower credit ratings group, the higher independent directors’social network centrality can enhance their credit ratings.