Cultural cues in trade credit: unveiling the hidden impact of corporate culture
研究利用中国上市公司MD&A文本的Word2Vec模型，发现企业文化能缓解财务困境、信息不对称和供应商集中度，从而促进贸易信贷融资，且效果在供应商关系短、地理距离远等情境下更强。
This research examines the impact of corporate culture on trade credit financing. Utilizing a Word2Vec model on MD&A texts from Chinese publicly listed firms, we uncover a positive and significant relationship between corporate culture and trade credit financing – validated by various endogeneity and robustness tests. Our findings indicate that corporate culture mitigates financial distress risk, information asymmetry, and supplier concentration, thereby enhancing trade credit financing. These positive effects are more pronounced in firms with shorter supplier relationships, greater geographic distance, reduced board diversity, state ownership, and in regions characterized by lower Confucian values, more market-driven economies, and stronger law enforcement. Moreover, five sub-dimensions of corporate culture – integrity, respect, teamwork, innovation, and quality – as well as cultural similarity, are positively associated with trade credit. This study provides novel evidence that corporate culture plays a crucial role in shaping firm–supplier relationships and facilitating trade credit financing.