IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v187y2023ics0040162522007016.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does corporate social responsibility pay? Evidence from social ratings in microfinance institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Simo, Christelle
  • Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert
  • Nzongang, Joseph

Abstract

Does it pay for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to be socially responsible? Drawing on the information asymmetry framework and using an aggregate measure of social performance (social ratings), we investigate the association between MFI corporate social performance (CSP) and capital structure. Our findings suggest that among investors, a relationship between social performance and capital structure only emerges when considering subsidies. We also investigate the effects of profit orientation by analyzing whether the financial structure of for-profit (vs nonprofit) MFIs is sensitive to social ratings. Our findings highlight the importance of social performance as a major determinant of MFI capital structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Simo, Christelle & Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert & Nzongang, Joseph, 2023. "Does corporate social responsibility pay? Evidence from social ratings in microfinance institutions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:187:y:2023:i:c:s0040162522007016
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162522007016
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122180?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joanna Ledgerwood & Victoria White, 2006. "Transforming Microfinance Institutions : Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7086, December.
    2. Rashmi Kiran Ekka & Mark D. Wenner & Anita Campion, 2010. "Interest Rates and Implications for Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 80278, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Marion Allet & Marek Hudon, 2015. "Green Microfinance: Characteristics of Microfinance Institutions Involved in Environmental Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 395-414, February.
    4. Etienne Farvaque & Catherine Refait-Alexandre & Dhafer Saïdane, 2011. "Corporate disclosure: A review of its (direct and indirect) benefits and costs," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 128, pages 5-31.
    5. Shenggang Yang & Feiying He & Qi Zhu & Shihao Li, 2018. "How does corporate social responsibility change capital structure?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3-4), pages 352-387, May.
    6. Hudon, Marek & Traca, Daniel, 2011. "On the Efficiency Effects of Subsidies in Microfinance: An Empirical Inquiry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 966-973, June.
    7. Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2016. "Buffer capital in microfinance institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3523-3537.
    8. Simon Cornée & Ariane Szafarz, 2014. "Vive la Différence: Social Banks and Reciprocity in the Credit Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 361-380, December.
    9. Benlemlih, Mohammed, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financing decisions: A literature review," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 42, pages 1-10.
    10. Mohammed Benlemlih, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Debt Maturity," Post-Print halshs-01321204, HAL.
    11. Hartarska, Valentina & Nadolnyak, Denis, 2008. "An Impact Analysis of Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2605-2619, December.
    12. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2018. "The Microfinance Business Model: Enduring Subsidy and Modest Profit," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 221-244.
    13. repec:idb:brikps:publication-detail,7101.html?id=68488 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Serrano-Cinca, Carlos & Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña, 2014. "Microfinance, the long tail and mission drift," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 181-194.
    15. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2009. "Microfinance Meets the Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 167-192, Winter.
    16. Beatriz Armendáriz & Ariane Szafarz, 2011. "On Mission Drift in Microfinance Institutions," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Beatriz Armendáriz & Marc Labie (ed.), The Handbook Of Microfinance, chapter 16, pages 341-366, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December.
    18. Reint Gropp & Florian Heider, 2010. "The Determinants of Bank Capital Structure," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(4), pages 587-622.
    19. Danilo Drago & Concetta Carnevale & Raffaele Gallo, 2019. "Do corporate social responsibility ratings affect credit default swap spreads?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 644-652, May.
    20. Zamore, Stephen & Beisland, Leif Atle & Mersland, Roy, 2019. "Geographic diversification and credit risk in microfinance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    21. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 49-75, February.
    22. Editinete André da Rocha Garcia & Gustavo Macedo de Carvalho & Joao Mauricio Gama Boaventura & José Milton de Souza Filho, 2020. "Determinants of corporate social performance disclosure: a literature review," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(4), pages 445-468, May.
    23. Rachael Meager, 2019. "Understanding the Average Impact of Microcredit Expansions: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis of Seven Randomized Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 57-91, January.
    24. D’Espallier, Bert & Goedecke, Jann & Hudon, Marek & Mersland, Roy, 2017. "From NGOs to Banks: Does Institutional Transformation Alter the Business Model of Microfinance Institutions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 19-33.
    25. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Mishra, Dev R., 2011. "Does corporate social responsibility affect the cost of capital?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2388-2406, September.
    26. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Zheng, Ying, 2019. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce the costs of high leverage? Evidence from capital structure and product market interactions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 135-150.
    27. Aaron K. Chatterji & David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 125-169, March.
    28. Labie, Marc & Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Mersland, Roy & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 44-55.
    29. Barbara Grabinska & Marcin Kedzior & Dorota Kedzior & Konrad Grabinski, 2021. "The Impact of Corporate Governance on the Capital Structure of Companies from the Energy Industry. The Case of Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-25, November.
    30. Abhijit Banerjee & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Zinman, 2015. "Six Randomized Evaluations of Microcredit: Introduction and Further Steps," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21, January.
    31. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Rachel Glennerster & Cynthia Kinnan, 2015. "The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 22-53, January.
    32. Mohammed Benlemlih, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Debt Maturity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 491-517, September.
    33. Michael L. Lemmon & Michael R. Roberts & Jaime F. Zender, 2008. "Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross‐Section of Corporate Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1575-1608, August.
    34. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    35. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2015. "Capital Structure of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 313-340, June.
    36. Frederic S. Mishkin, 1991. "Asymmetric Information and Financial Crises: A Historical Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: Financial Markets and Financial Crises, pages 69-108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Klaus-Michael Menz, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Is it Rewarded by the Corporate Bond Market? A Critical Note," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 117-134, September.
    38. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    39. Goodell, John W. & Goyal, Abhinav & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2020. "Comparing financial transparency between for-profit and nonprofit suppliers of public goods: Evidence from microfinance," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    40. Moh’d Al-Azzam, 2019. "Financing microfinance institutions: subsidies or deposit mobilisation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(15), pages 1621-1633, March.
    41. David Fehr & Gaamaa Hishigsuren, 2006. "Raising Capital For Microfinance: Sources Of Funding And Opportunities For Equity Financing," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(02), pages 133-143.
    42. Bert D'Espallier & Marek Hudon & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Aid Volatility and Social Performance in Microfinance," Working Papers CEB 16-015, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    43. repec:cii:cepiei:2011-q4-128- is not listed on IDEAS
    44. Isabelle Girerd-Potin & Sonia Jimenez-Garces & Pascal Louvet, 2011. "The Link between Social Rating and Financial Capital Structure," Finance, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, vol. 32(2), pages 9-52.
    45. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    46. D’Espallier, Bert & Hudon, Marek & Szafarz, Ariane, 2013. "Unsubsidized microfinance institutions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 174-176.
    47. Leif Atle Beisland & Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland & Trond Randøy, 2021. "Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 51-71, June.
    48. Darren J. Kisgen, 2006. "Credit Ratings and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1035-1072, June.
    49. I. Girerd-Potin & S. Jimenez-Garces & P. Louvet, 2011. "The Link between Social Rating and Financial Capital Structure," Post-Print halshs-00656078, HAL.
    50. Meager, Rachael, 2019. "Understanding the average impact of microcredit expansions: a Bayesian hierarchical analysis of seven randomized experiments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88190, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    51. Rients Galema & Robert Lensink & Roy Mersland, 2012. "Do Powerful CEOs Determine Microfinance Performance?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 718-742, June.
    52. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Priberny, Christopher & Röhe, Michaela, 2017. "Why do microfinance institutions fail socially? A global empirical examination," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 81-89.
    53. Servin, Roselia & Lensink, Robert & van den Berg, Marrit, 2012. "Ownership and technical efficiency of microfinance institutions: Empirical evidence from Latin America," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2136-2144.
    54. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March.
    55. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    56. repec:cii:cepiei:2011-q4-128-1 is not listed on IDEAS
    57. Kisgen, Darren J., 2009. "Do Firms Target Credit Ratings or Leverage Levels?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(6), pages 1323-1344, December.
    58. Knar Khachatryan & Valentina Hartarska & Aleksandr Grigoryan, 2017. "Performance and Capital Structure of Microfinance Institutions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 395-419, September.
    59. Jinhua Cui & Hoje Jo & Haejung Na, 2018. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Information Asymmetry?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 549-572, March.
    60. Copestake, James, 2007. "Mainstreaming Microfinance: Social Performance Management or Mission Drift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1721-1738, October.
    61. Mark J. Garmaise & Gabriel Natividad, 2010. "Information, the Cost of Credit, and Operational Efficiency: An Empirical Study of Microfinance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(6), pages 2560-2590, June.
    62. Barbara Sveva Magnanelli & Maria Federica Izzo, 2017. "Corporate social performance and cost of debt: the relationship," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 250-265, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Soumaré, Issouf & Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert & Hessou, Hélyoth T.S., 2020. "Are microfinance institutions resilient to economic slowdown? Evidence from their capital ratio adjustment over the business cycle," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    3. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2015. "Capital Structure of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 313-340, June.
    4. Hermes, Cornelis & Hudon, M., 2018. "Determinants of the Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Research Report 2018008, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    5. N’Guessan, Marie Noëlle & Hartarska, Valentina, 2021. "Funding for BOP in Emerging Markets: Organizational Forms and Capital Structures of Microfinance Institutions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Pignatel, Isabelle & Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2020. "Microfinance institutions and International Financial Reporting Standards: An exploratory analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Benlemlih, Mohammed, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and dividend policy," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 114-138.
    8. Anastasia Cozarenco & Valentina Hartarska & Ariane Szafarz, 2019. "Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth: The Conflicting Impacts of Subsidies and Deposits on the Cost-Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," Working Papers CEB 19-001, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Mussa Hussaini & Ugo Rigoni & Paolo Perego, 2023. "The strategic choice of payment method in takeovers: The role of environmental, social and governance performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 200-219, January.
    10. Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2016. "Buffer capital in microfinance institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3523-3537.
    11. Nyarko, Samuel Anokye, 2022. "Gender discrimination and lending to women: The moderating effect of an international founder," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    12. Mohammed Benlemlih & Li Cai, 2020. "Corporate environmental performance and financing decisions," Post-Print hal-03124950, HAL.
    13. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Patrick Reichert, 2020. "What is a Fair Level of Profit for Social Enterprise? Insights from Microfinance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 627-644, March.
    14. Gregor Dorfleitner & Davide Forcella & Quynh Anh Nguyen, 2021. "Why microfinance institutions go digital: An empirical analysis," Working Papers CEB 21-003, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Suleiman A. Badayi & Bolaji T. Matemilola & Bany‐Ariffin A.N & Lau Wei Theng, 2021. "Does corporate social responsibility influence firm probability of default?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3377-3395, July.
    16. Barbara Grabinska & Dorota Kedzior & Marcin Kedzior & Konrad Grabinski, 2021. "The Impact of CSR on the Capital Structure of High-Tech Companies in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    17. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    18. Leif Atle Beisland & Bert D’Espallier & Roy Mersland, 2019. "The Commercialization of the Microfinance Industry: Is There a ‘Personal Mission Drift’ Among Credit Officers?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 119-134, August.
    19. Stephen Zamore & Leif Atle Beisland & Roy Mersland, 2023. "Excessive focus on risk? Non‐performing loans and efficiency of microfinance institutions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 1290-1307, April.
    20. Tchakoute-Tchuigoua, Hubert & Soumaré, Issouf, 2019. "The effect of loan approval decentralization on microfinance institutions' outreach and loan portfolio quality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-17.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:187:y:2023:i:c:s0040162522007016. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.