Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure, Debt Financing Costs, and Innovation Capacity

The challenges of financing have been troubling the development of Chinese enterprises, especially private enterprises. This paper aims to examine the antecedents and consequences of debt financing costs. Drawing on a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2009 to 2018, the study examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure, debt financing costs, and innovation capacity. This paper found that the quality of CSR disclosure is negatively related to the cost of debt financing and examined the situational differences in the impact of CSR disclosure quality under different property rights, different disclosure forms, and different forensic effects. Moreover, it is found that the negative effect of CSR disclosure quality on debt financing cost helps to induce the innovation capacity of enterprises. The findings of this paper have certain reference value for corporate improvement of social responsibility disclosure.