기업의 사회적 책임 활동은 대리인 문제를 완화하는가? 지배주주와 채권자 간 이해상충을 중심으로 (Do Corporate Social Responsibility Activities Alleviate Agency Problems? Focusing on Conflicts of Interest between Controlling Shareholders and Creditors)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국금융학회
· 수록지 정보 : 금융연구 / 35권 / 1호 / 1 ~ 43페이지
· 저자명 : 강형철, 변희섭

초록

본 연구는 채권자와 주주의 이해를 동시에 고려하여 기업의 사회적 책임(corporate social responsibility, CSR) 활동의 편익을 확인한다. 이를 위해, CSR 활동이 파산위험에 미치는 영향이 소유-경영자의 지분에 따라 어떻게 달라지는지 실증적으로 분석한다. 분석결과, CSR 활동은 파산위험에 유의적인 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타난다. 하지만 지배주주의 지분이 상대적으로 낮은 기업에서 CSR 활동의 적극적인 이행이 파산위험을 감소시키는 것으로 확인된다. 이러한 결과는 CSR 활동이 지배주주의 사적 이익 추구 유인을 완화하기 위한 대안으로 활용되어 채권자의 이해를 충족시킬 수 있음을 의미한다. 한편, 주요 결과는 수익성 또는 시장가치가 높은 기업, 업력이 낮은 기업, 외국인 투자자의 지분이 높은 기업에서 주로 관찰되어, 이러한 기업특성이 CSR 활동의 편익을 누리기 위한 선결 조건임을 확인할 수 있다. 본 연구의 결과는 전통적 대리인이론의 채권자와 주주 간 이해상충의 문제를 CSR 활동을 통해 완화할 수 있음을 제시하였다는 학술적 시사점을 가진다.

영어초록

Policy and practical interests in corporate social responsibility (hereafter, CSR) activities, as an alternative for expanding the sustainability of the national economy, are gradually increasing. Accordingly, academic studies have attempted to understand the benefits and costs of CSR activities from the perspective of stakeholders, moving away from the traditional approach that focuses on the interests of shareholders. As a representative discussion in terms of a stakeholder’s point of view, several studies have grasped the relationship between the interest of creditors and CSR activities. They argue that CSR activities can be an alternative to satisfy the interests of creditors through a variety of pathways, such as expanding future cash flows, improving productivity, controlling managerial risk, and mitigating agency problems (Attig, El Ghoul, Guedhami, and Suh, 2013; Jiraporn, Jiraporn, Boeprasert, and Chang, 2014; Oikonomou, Brooks, and Pavelin, 2014). Contrary to this discussion, some studies based on shareholders’ perspectives still raise concerns that CSR activities will be exploited by managers to pursue private benefits (Barnea and Rubin, 2010; Oh, Chang, and Martynov, 2011). These studies have shown the negative relationship between ownership of owner-managers and CSR activities. Since contradictory views are raised from the perspective of creditors and shareholders, it is difficult to generalize the benefits of CSR activities only with a limited approach focusing on a specific stakeholder.
This paper investigates the benefit of CSR activities by considering the interests of creditors and shareholders at the same time. To this end, we analyze the effect of CSR activities on the default risk depending on the ownership of owner-managers. Empirically, we find that CSR activities do not have a significant effect on the default risk. However, in firms with low ownership of owner-managers, active CSR activities significantly reduce the default risk. This result suggests that CSR activities can be used as an alternative to alleviate the incentives for owner-managers to pursue private interests and be recognized as a means to satisfy the interests of creditors. On the other hand, the main result is primarily observed in firms with high profitability, market value, or ownership of foreign investors, and firms with low age. It can be seen that these characteristics are a prerequisite for enjoying the benefits of CSR activities.
This study can provide several implications. First, it can contribute to the generalization of the theory related to CSR activities by suggesting that the results of existing studies based on the perspectives of creditors and shareholders are compatible at the same time. In detail, our results suggest that active CSR activities in firms with low ownership of owner-manager, shown in the existing study (Barnea and Rubin, 2010), can be considered as an effective means of satisfying the interests of creditors rather than the agency costs. Second, our results have implications for confirming a new path for the benefits of CSR activities. Existing studies suggest the benefits of CSR activities based on fragmentary relationships with the improvement of internal capabilities such as productivity, managerial risk, and corporate performance. However, considering the complexity of corporate decision-making, it is limited to fully grasp the benefits of CSR activities only with these approaches. Unlike previous studies, this study shows the effect of CSR activities as a means to mitigate the possibility of a conflict of interest between the stakeholders (shareholders and creditors) in a firm.

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