Corporate environmental responsibility and financing patterns: Does firm size matter?

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) on financing patterns of working capital and fixed investment. Financing sources include internal funds, equity, different types of debt financing, and government grants. Specifically, this study examines differences in the impacts of CER on financing patterns for smaller and larger firms. Based on a sample of 15,082 firms covering 27 countries, our empirical findings indicate that environmentally responsible activities do not significantly affect financing patterns of working capital but affect the use of internal finance and almost all external sources for capital expenditures. Moreover, the impacts of environmentally responsible activities on capital expenditures vary across financial sources and depend on firm size. The revealed pecking order among financing sources and changes in the debt ratio offer valuable insights into the validity of capital structural theories for smaller and larger eco-friendly firms.