›› 2017, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (12): 163-174.

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Research of Dynamic Relationship between Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure of Private Companies and Financial Constraints

Qian Ming1, Xu Guanghua1, Shen Yi1, Dou Xiaochen2   

  1. 1. School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094;
    2. Accounting Society of China, Beijing 100045
  • Received:2016-06-08 Online:2017-12-28 Published:2017-12-20

Abstract:

A growing number of companies begin to disclose Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) information, while the economic effect of CSR disclosure hasn't been explored enough, and most of extant literature on CSR disclosure focuses on the cost of capital. This paper mainly studies the relationship between voluntary CSR disclosure and financial constraints. Applying the data of private A-share listed companies in China for analysis, we reach three important conclusions. First, financial constraints can influence voluntary CSR disclosure. Companies with a higher level of financial constraints in previous terms prefer to disclose CSR information in the current term. Second, voluntary CSR disclosure can reduce information asymmetry and help companies obtain financial supports from the government, banks and equity investors, which makes voluntary CSR disclosure affect financial constraints. Companies that disclose CSR information in the last term face a lower level of financial constraints in the present term than the companies that do not. However, the negative association between voluntary CSR disclosure and financial constraints is mainly bound up with whether to disclose rather than the quality of disclosure. Third, there is an "initial" effect of voluntary CSR disclosure on financial constraints. The effect of initial disclosure on financial constraints is more significant than non-initial disclosure.

Key words: corporate social responsibility, financial constraints, information disclosure, private companies, dynamic relationship