此研究主要探討在不同經濟發展程度下，企業社會責任對公司權益資金成本產生之影響，並加入落後效果，以檢視企業社會責任是否對權益資金成本有落後效果的影響。此研究進而將企業社會責任分為四個構面(環境、經濟、公司治理、社會)探討其對權益資金成本的影響，欲了解四個構面對資金成本之影響程度。並將樣本公司分為已開發國家、開發中國家、低度開發國家。此研究將找出在不同經濟發展程度之國家下，企業在企業社會責任之重點策略將如何影響權益資金成本，並了解原因。
此研究結果顯示在已開發國家中，企業社會責任與公司權益資金成本有顯著正向關係，然而，在開發中國家中，企業社會責任與公司權益資金有顯著負向關係。為了解前者正向與負向的原因，此研究將企業社會責任拆解為四個構面，探討四個構面分別對公司權益資金成本的關係。已開發國家，社會、環境、公司治理構面對公司權益資金成本有顯著正向關係，然而，開發中國家的四個構面對權益資金成本皆為顯著負向關係。
本文推測不同的經濟發展階段，各國之間彼此文化、金融體系、資本市場、法律制度和歷史發展有所不同，造成企業責任政策之差異性。藉由執行合適及適當水準的企業社會責任策略，公司贏得口碑及聲譽，消費者購買意願上升，公司獲利增加。進而，與利害關係人建立良好的關係，此舉將創造公司與社會雙贏的局面。

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the four components of CSR on firm cost of equity capital under different stages of economic development. Previous papers have used weighted CSR scores as a variable to determine the effects of CSR strategies, but this research is intended to be more specific in order to identify the effects that each component, including environmental, economic, and social components as well as corporate governance as they relate to firms’ cost of equity capital. Furthermore, countries under consideration in this study are classified into highly developed, moderately developed, and least developed countries under the rules of the International Monetary Fund.
In highly developed and moderately developed countries, CSR performance was found to be significantly positively related to implied cost of equity capital. In addition, by isolating the impact of each component of CSR on implied cost of equity capital, the social, environmental, economic and corporate governance scopes were shown to be significantly positively related to implied cost of equity capital in highly developed countries. However, in moderately developed countries, all CSR scopes were significantly negatively related to implied cost of equity capital.
This research posits that under different stages of economic development, countries differ from each other in regard to culture, financial systems, capital markets, legal systems and historical development. Through executing an ideal level of CSR programs, firms can improve their reputations. As a result, public policies will be promoted encouraging companies to be more active in their relationships with their stakeholders provided that these relationships will result in gains in both image and reputation.

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