本文基于非正式制度的视角，深入探讨儒家文化对企业行为的影响及作用机制。儒家文化的精神内涵早已成为“百姓日用而不知”的隐性行为准则。单纯用正式制度的视角无法深度而全面地解释企业行为表现出来的异质性，因此本文从儒家文化这一非正式制度的角度来剖析企业行为的内在动因。首先给出对儒家文化的测度，包括距离模型和区域模型。准确的度量儒家文化对企业和人的影响程度是全文实证研究的基础。为此，本文以孔子庙的分布位置和数量为基础数据，结合企业办公地和注册地以及高管出生地和籍贯的数据，构造了6个距离模型测度和10个区域模型测度。之后，本文通过三章内容给出了实证检验。第一，儒家文化和企业违规行为的研究发现，儒家文化和企业违规行为有显著负向关系，说明儒家文化的影响可以降低企业发生违规行为的倾向。实证结果表明，信誉机制和代理成本机制是两个可能的影响渠道。儒家文化影响下的企业更看重对企业信誉的维护，并且儒家价值观可以帮助降低代理成本，减少代理人的违规动机。对于国有控股企业、两职合一的企业和行业竞争相对不激烈的企业来说，儒家文化对违规行为的抑制效应更强。第二，儒家文化和企业创新行为的研究发现，儒家文化对企业创新投入和创新产出都有积极促进作用。企业受儒家文化影响强度越大，其研发支出密度显著越大，其专利产出水平也显著越高。实证结果表明，缓解外部融资约束是可能的影响渠道。儒家文化可以帮助企业获得更多的外部融资，从而企业有更多资金来支持研发创新活动。第三，儒家文化与企业履行社会责任的研究发现，儒家文化和企业社会责任承担水平有显著正向关系，说明儒家文化有利于企业履行社会责任。实证结果表明，儒家文化鼓励企业自愿披露社会责任信息。交叉分析企业违规和社会责任承担行为发现，对于没有违规行为的企业，儒家文化对其社会责任承担的影响更强。本文与现有文献相比的创新之处在于，完善了对儒家文化的测度，补充了儒家文化与企业违规行为的相关研究，同时探讨了儒家文化对企业创新投入和产出的影响并提出新的影响渠道，将企业违规与社会责任承担相结合进行研究。同时本文还有一定的现实意义，包括帮助理解儒家文化在现代社会的作用和意义，通过研究正式制度和非正式制度对企业行为的共同作用而为政策制定和企业经营提供理论参考。
This article examines whether and to what extent Confucianism can affect the behaviors of Chinese corporations from the perspective of informal institutions. The core elements of Confucianism have become the implicit code of conduct followed by Chinese people in their daily life. The heterogeneity of corporate behaviors cannot be explained thoroughly and comprehensively by the theories of formal institutions. Therefore this article attempts to analyze the internal motivation of corporate behaviors in-depth. First, with reference of history, the measurement of the influence of Confucian culture is constructed, including a regional model and a distance model, which is the basis of the empirical research of the whole article. Six distance measurements and ten regional measurements are constructed in total, based on the location and number of Confucius Temple, combined with the office place and registration place of corporations as well as the birthplace and native place of company executives. The empirical research is mainly composed of three parts. First, a study on the relationship of Confucianism and corporate frauds finds that there is a significant negative correlation between Confucian measurement and the probability of corporate fraud occurrence, which indicates that the influence of Confucian culture can help to reduce the possibility of corporate committing violation behaviors. Empirical results show that reputation mechanism and agency cost mechanism are two possible channels. Corporations under the influence of Confucian culture pay more attention to the maintenance of corporate reputation. And Confucian values can help reduce agency costs and reduce agents’ violation motivations. Confucian culture has a stronger negative effect on corporate fraud behaviors if the corporate is state-owned, CEO duality or in a relatively uncompetitive industry. Second, an investigation on the relationship of Confucianism and corporate innovation finds that there is a significant positive correlation between Confucian measurement and corporate innovation (both innovation input and innovation output). Confucianism is significantly positively associated with a company’s R&D investement and patent output. Alleviating external financing constraints is a possible channel. Confucian culture can help companies obtain more external financing, so that companies have more funds to support R&D activities. Third, a study on the relationship of Confucianism and corporate social responsibility finds that there is a significant positive correlation between Confucian measurement and fulfilling corporate social responsibility (CSR). The more companies are affected by Confucian culture, the more likely companies are to fulfill CSR. And Confucian culture encourages companies to voluntarily disclose social responsibility information. Combining corporate fraud and CSR fulfillments, we draw a conclusion that Confucian culture has a stronger influence on the social responsibility of companies who have not violated regulations in this year or last year. Compared with the existing literature, the contributions are that this article improves the measurement of Confucian culture influence on companies, fills in the gap of the study between Confucian culture and corporate fraud, proposes a new channel of the influence of Confucian culture on corporate innovation, and analyze corporate behaviors by combining corporate fraud with corporate social responsibility. This article also provide an empirical basis for a deeper understanding of the economic consequences of Confucianism and the role in modern society. Moreover, the study of the common effect of formal and informal institutions provides a theoretical reference for policy formulation and corporate management.
