Information Transparency, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Credit Rating: Evidence from Taiwan’s Enterprises

Based on agency theory and overinvestment view, the research explores the possibility of severe agency problems caused by managers’ self-interest and promote information transparency to solve agency problems. Furthermore, according to the risk mitigation viewpoints, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance influences credit risk rating. Therefore, there is an interlocking relationship between the three parts, which are examined by panel data analysis. First, the Tobit regression is used to predict the enterprises’ ranking that did not win the CSR Award of Common Wealth Magazine. Second, the relationships among information transparency, CSR, and credit risk index (TCRI^TM) provided by Taiwan Economic Journal are analysed. The best model is chosen by using T test, LM test, and Hausman tests. Next, this research uses the fixed-effects model as empirical analysis. The major empirical findings of this paper are as follows: (a) Improving information transparency can promote CSR performance. (b) Improving information transparency helps obtain better credit ratings. (c) Better CSR performance helps obtain better credit ratings. In summary, all three factors positively affect a company, improving its investment environment and bringing about a good reputation. When business managers or decision-makers are developing business strategies, this could be something to take into account.