The Consequences of Financial Leverage: Certified B Corporations’ Advantages Compared to Common Commercial Firms
研究了财务杠杆对销售增长和雇佣成本的影响，发现认证B型企业因其可信的亲社会使命，能比普通商业企业更好地抵御高杠杆的负面效应。
Firms usually need to attract debt to form and grow, but increasing financial leverage also entails increased risks and costs for stakeholders, such as customers and employees. Accordingly, past research suggests that for common commercial firms (CCFs), which prioritize profits, higher leverage leads to lower sales growth and higher employment costs. However, Certified B Corporations (CBCs) distinguish themselves by having a credible prosocial mission and, therefore, might be better insulated against the adverse effects of higher leverage. Using a European multi-country matched sample of 136 CBCs and 136 CCFs, we find that the negative relationship between leverage and sales growth and the positive relationship between leverage and employment costs are weaker for CBCs than CCFs. Taken together, due to their certified prosocial mission, CBCs enjoy an advantage in debt financing compared to CCFs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10551-023-05349-5.