دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی سودمندی مشارکت مسئولیت اجتماعی شرکت: نقش سرمایه اخلاقی و ارزشی - الزویر 2018

abstract

Extant literature supports the view that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) engagement could potentially act as a risk mitigation device. We extend this literature to address the issue of whether CSR engagement could benefit firms which are already in bankruptcy. A unique feature of our empirical tests is the decomposition of CSR into two components – moral capital and exchange capital. We find that moral capital is associated with the likelihood of a distressed firm emerging from bankruptcy. Further, moral capital appears to reduce the number of days a distressed firm spends in bankruptcy. Our empirical evidence also suggests that moral capital increases the likelihood that a distressed firm successfully negotiates a pre-packaged agreement with its creditors. Finally, our empirical results indicate that the exchange capital component of CSR is positively related to the probability of procuring debtorin-possession financing by a distressed firm whilst in bankruptcy. Overall, our results imply that both moral and exchange capital components of CSR play a role in facilitating a firm's emergence from bankruptcy.

Concluding remarks

The current study extends the CSR-risk linkage further by examining the effects of CSR engagement on distressed firms. When a firm is already in a state of financial distress, it is not clear ex-ante whether a firm's socially responsible behavior will facilitate its emergence from bankruptcy. One line of argument is that a firm in distress should not fritter away its precious resources by spending it on community, charitable activities, and the environment. It should rather focus its resources on activities that reward its primary stakeholders, such as creditors and shareholders. Alternately, one could argue that a firm's ability to survive a period of financial distress depends on a broad group of stakeholders and they would take cognizance of its prior commitment and willingness to engage in socially responsible activities, such as community engagement and diversity. In our empirical tests, we use the framework outlined in Godfrey (2005) and Godfrey et al. (2009) and partition CSR engagement into two segments – moral capital and exchange capital. The moral capital component of a firm signals the willingness of a firm to act altruistically; while the exchange capital indicates a firm's ability to create more advantageous exchanges between the firm and its primary stakeholders. Our research, which is based on US firms that have filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, shows that a firm's prior CSR engagement helps it to emerge from bankruptcy. In particular, we find that the moral capital component of CSR is positively associated with the probability of a Chapter 11 firm emerging from bankruptcy and reduces the time spent in bankruptcy. Further, the moral capital component of CSR increases the likelihood of a distressed firm closing a prenegotiated settlement with its creditors prior to a formal Chapter 11 filing. Finally, our results indicate that CSR engagement increases the chance of a distressed firm obtaining DIP financing. Since prior literature on bankruptcy shows that concluding a prenegotiated settlement and procuring debtor-in-possession financing are key determinants of a Chapter 11 firm successfully emerging from bankruptcy, it appears that CSR engagement plays a crucial role in ensuring its survival.