기업의 사회적 책임 활동은 대리인 문제를 완화하는가? 지배주주와 채권자 간 이해상충을 중심으로

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.