IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/ecobur/v7y2021i2p74-96n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of environmental, social and corporate governance responsibility on the cost of short-and long-term debt

Author

Listed:
  • Ratajczak Piotr

    (Poznań University of Economics and Business, Institute of Accounting and Finance Management, Department of Controlling, Financial Analysis and Valuation, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875Poznań, Poland)

  • Mikołajewicz Grzegorz

    (Poznań University of Economics and Business, Institute of Accounting and Finance Management, Department of Controlling, Financial Analysis and Valuation, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875Poznań, Poland)

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to examine the impact of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) responsibility on the short- and long-term cost of debt. Linear regression was applied to a unique dataset on CSR and cost of debt for 300 companies recognized in 2017 by Corporate Knights as the most sustainable companies in the world. The question about the link between CSR and cost of debt is important as there is still ongoing debate as to whether business should undertake activities in the field of CSR—managers and other stakeholders are still unsure of the outcomes. The findings show that the involvement in environmental issues decreases the cost of long-term debt whereas the involvement in social issues brings benefits to short- and long-term debt. Surprisingly the greater the involvement in corporate governance, the higher the cost of debt in all time horizons. Managers should expect a lower cost of debt from environmental and social activities mostly in the long run. Corporate governance expenditures may in turn be seen as a waste of company resources, cost of forgone opportunities, or—optionally—as an over-investment. The main novelty is the breakdown of CSR into three dimensions while examining various term structures of corporate debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Ratajczak Piotr & Mikołajewicz Grzegorz, 2021. "The impact of environmental, social and corporate governance responsibility on the cost of short-and long-term debt," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 7(2), pages 74-96, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ecobur:v:7:y:2021:i:2:p:74-96:n:1
    DOI: 10.18559/ebr.2021.2.6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2021.2.6
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18559/ebr.2021.2.6?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Darren D. Lee & Robert W. Faff, 2009. "Corporate Sustainability Performance and Idiosyncratic Risk: A Global Perspective," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 213-237, May.
    2. F. A. Lutz, 1940. "The Structure of Interest Rates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 55(1), pages 36-63.
    3. J. M. Culbertson, 1957. "The Term Structure of Interest Rates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 71(4), pages 485-517.
    4. Mark P. Sharfman & Chitru S. Fernando, 2008. "Environmental risk management and the cost of capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 569-592, June.
    5. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Hakkon Kim & Kwangwoo Park, 2018. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility and the Cost of Capital: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 335-361, May.
    6. Andreas Hoepner & Ioannis Oikonomou & Bert Scholtens & Michael Schröder, 2016. "The Effects of Corporate and Country Sustainability Characteristics on The Cost of Debt: An International Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1-2), pages 158-190, January.
    7. Christine Botosan, 2006. "Disclosure and the cost of capital: what do we know?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(S1), pages 31-40.
    8. Hongkang Xu & Jia Wu & Mai Dao, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and trade credit," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1389-1416, May.
    9. Kartick Gupta, 2018. "Environmental Sustainability and Implied Cost of Equity: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 343-365, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Péter Horváth & Judith M. Pütter & Toomas Haldma & Kertu Lääts & Dzineta Dimante & Lina Dagilienė & Cezary Kochalski & Piotr Ratajczak & Jaroslav Wagner & Petr Petera & Renata Paksǐová & Tamás Tirnitz, 2017. "Sustainability Reporting in Central and Eastern European Companies: Results of an International and Empirical Study," MIR Series in International Business, in: Péter Horváth & Judith M. Pütter (ed.), Sustainability Reporting in Central and Eastern European Companies, pages 11-49, Springer.
    12. Philip Baird & Pinar Geylani & Jeffrey Roberts, 2012. "Corporate Social and Financial Performance Re-Examined: Industry Effects in a Linear Mixed Model Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 367-388, September.
    13. 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.
    14. La Rosa, Fabio & Liberatore, Giovanni & Mazzi, Francesco & Terzani, Simone, 2018. "The impact of corporate social performance on the cost of debt and access to debt financing for listed European non-financial firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 519-529.
    15. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. C. Cheng & Denton Collins & Henry Huang, 2006. "Shareholder rights, financial disclosure and the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 175-204, September.
    17. Hoje Jo & Haejung Na, 2012. "Does CSR Reduce Firm Risk? Evidence from Controversial Industry Sectors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(4), pages 441-456, November.
    18. 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. Boubaker, Sabri & Cellier, Alexis & Manita, Riadh & Saeed, Asif, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce financial distress risk?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 835-851.
    2. Bai, Min & Ho, Ly, 2022. "Corporate social performance and firm debt levels: Impacts of the covid-19 pandemic and institutional environments," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    3. Nirosha Hewa Wellalage & Vijay Kumar, 2021. "Environmental performance and bank lending: Evidence from unlisted firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3309-3329, November.
    4. Fonseka, Mohan & Rajapakse, Theja & Richardson, Grant, 2019. "The effect of environmental information disclosure and energy product type on the cost of debt: Evidence from energy firms in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 159-182.
    5. Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2020. "CEO inside debt holdings and CSR activities," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 508-529.
    6. Bai Xue & Zhuang Zhang & Pingli Li, 2020. "Corporate environmental performance, environmental management and firm risk," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1074-1096, March.
    7. Jannik Gerwanski, 2020. "Does it pay off? Integrated reporting and cost of debt: European evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2299-2319, September.
    8. Maretno A. Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Marcus A. Nilsson, 2022. "Bondholders’ returns and stakeholders’ interests," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1271-1301, November.
    9. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7-8), pages 1137-1166, July.
    10. Asif Saeed & Qasim Zureigat, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Trade Credit and Financial Crisis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-23, July.
    11. Caterina Di Tommaso & John Thornton, 2020. "Do ESG scores effect bank risk taking and value? Evidence from European banks," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2286-2298, September.
    12. Díaz, Antonio & Escribano, Ana, 2021. "Sustainability premium in energy bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    13. Remmer Sassen & Anne-Kathrin Hinze & Inga Hardeck, 2016. "Impact of ESG factors on firm risk in Europe," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 867-904, November.
    14. Nguyen, Van Ha & Choi, Bobae & Agbola, Frank W., 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and debt maturity: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Banerjee, Rajabrata & Gupta, Kartick & Mudalige, Priyantha, 2020. "Do environmentally sustainable practices lead to financially less constrained firms? International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Anis Maaloul & Daniel Zéghal & Walid Ben Amar & Sari Mansour, 2023. "The Effect of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance and Disclosure on Cost of Debt: The Mediating Effect of Corporate Reputation," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 1-18, February.
    17. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Post-Print hal-01977064, HAL.
    18. Lutfi Abdul Razak & Mansor H. Ibrahim & Adam Ng, 2020. "Which Sustainability Dimensions Affect Credit Risk? Evidence from Corporate and Country-Level Measures," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, December.
    19. Meles, Antonio & Salerno, Dario & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo & Zhang, Jianing, 2023. "The influence of green innovation on default risk: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 692-710.
    20. Champagne, Claudia & Coggins, Frank & Sodjahin, Amos, 2022. "Can extra-financial ratings serve as an indicator of ESG risk?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CSR; ESG; sustainability; cost of debt; short-term debt; long-term debt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:vrs:ecobur:v:7:y:2021:i:2:p:74-96:n:1. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    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.