CFO文化背景對財務契約寬鬆程度的影響

Abstract

財務契約的鬆緊取決於借貸雙方間的資訊不對稱程度。本研究以各個文化導致人們對待資訊不對稱的看法不同為切入點，認為文化可能透過下列管道—對借貸關係的重視程度以及對公司表現的樂觀程度，影響借款方的CFO處理資訊不對稱的方式，藉以調整CFO可接受的財務契約鬆緊程度。本研究以1992年至2017年間S&P 1500的公司所發行的債務合約作為樣本，探討CFO的文化背景是否會影響其對財務契約寬鬆程度的選擇。實證結果顯示，當CFO的起源國家較推崇權力地位主義、集體主義，及對不確定性的趨避性時，較會傾向選擇較寬鬆的財務契約，而起源國家是否推崇男性主義並不會對此選擇有顯著影響。額外測試顯示在所有文化背景中，不確定性的趨避性是影響個人作出決策時最重要的因素，此外，文化背景的影響力並未在CEO身上發現，證實在融資決策上CFO的影響力是勝過CEO的。

Covenant tightness depends on the level of information asymmetry between borrowers and lenders. This study argues that cultures shape managers' views on this information asymmetry through two channels: how managers value lending relationships and how optimistic they perceive the company's future performance. Cultural heritages then influence how CFOs deal with the information asymmetry and adjust the covenant tightness to an acceptable level. I take the debt contracts issued by S&P 1500 companies from the period of 1992 to 2017 as a sample to explore whether the CFOs' cultural heritages would affect their choice on covenant tightness. The empirical results show that when CFOs originate in countries that advocate power distance, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance, they are more inclined to choose looser covenants. However, CFOs from masculine societies do not show such tendency. Additional tests show that among all types of cultural heritage, uncertainty avoidance is the most important factor that influences CFOs' decision-making in the choice of covenant tightness. Besides, there is no similar cultural effect found in CEOs, which suggests that CFOs are more influential than CEOs in financing decisions.