過去研究認為宗教對個人及組織在經濟上及地理上的行為有影響效果。本研究利用過去那些認為宗教會影響組織的管理行為及決策所發現的論點，進而延伸宗教在公司治理之影響的架構。本研究採用宗教數據檔案館協會所提供的美國各郡教堂數目來進行研究。本研究實證結果顯示，那些座落在宗教敬虔度較高的公司享有較低的違約風險。本研究亦發現，那些座落在宗教敬虔度較高的公司比較不會採行總經理雙元性、雙層股權及反購併條款等機制。此外，那些座落在宗教敬虔度較高的公司，其董事會擁有較多的內部董事，反映出這些公司認為內部董事們比較不會涉入剝削股東的行為。再者，那些公司比較願意在企業社會責任的活動上貢獻其資源。

Prior research states that religion has influenced effects on the economic and demographic behavior of individuals and organizations. In this study, we use those findings suggesting religion affects managerial behavior and decision on organizations and extend our research to the corporate governance architecture of firms. We use a measure of religiosity on a county level that is collected from ARDA. We find that firms located in high religiosity have lower default risk. We also find firms located in high religiosity are less like to engage in CEO duality, dual-class and antitakeover. Interesting, we find firms located in high religiosity have more insiders on the board, indicating firms trust these insiders board to contribute their informative service in the firms. Further, firms located in high religiosity more likely to involve in CSR activities.

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