本研究旨在探討企業社會責任表現與信用評等之關係。過去相關的文獻大多著重在於企業社會責任與公司財務表現、消費者行為或者是社會責任投資的領域，但較少有研究探討了企業社會責任與信用評等的關係。我採用了2007年到2011年天下雜誌企業公民獎對於臺灣公司企業社會責任表現的評比以及臺灣經濟新報(TEJ)所提供的信用風險指標(TCRI)進行實證。結果發現：1. 企業社會責任的表現與信用評等是呈正向相關的，2.企業在做資本結構決策時會考量不同信用評等所帶來的好處與成本而影響公司的舉債程度。以上的結果與我們一般的認知及過去文獻是相符的。

This study examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and its effect on credit rating. Previous research has established the relationship between corporate responsibility performance and financial performance or consumer behavior but few have shown the relation between CSR and credit rating. Using data from the CSR award of CommonWealth magazine and TCRI credit ratings conducted by Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) between 2007 and 2011, the evidence suggests that (i) better CSR performance is associated with better credit ratings; (ii) firms do consider the benefit and cost with different credit rating levels while making capital structure decisions. These results are consistent with our general understanding of CSR and credit rating.

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