社會信任的研究越來越多，但過往文獻大部分都單就社會信任研究或是樣本數只在特定國家，我們這次的研究是探討社會信任以及公民合作對公司債存續期的影響，並用全世界國家的資料。依照文獻，社會信任高的國家通常伴隨著較低的代理成本，而公司發行短期債券也常被視為一種不被信任的行為，因此我們認為社會信任高的國家會有較長的債券期間。而且，我們用了76,452筆來自22個國家的資料，資料期間2011~2019，還加入了另一個社會文化的層面──公民合作。另外，我們還測試了投資人保護對於上述社會信任、公民合作跟債券期間的關係有甚麼影響。結果，數據顯示跟過去文獻的結果一樣，社會信任高確實會讓此國家有較高的公司債存續期，表示社會信任確實會減低資訊不對稱造成的代理成本，但公民合作對債券期間的影響就沒那麼顯著。在加入投資人保護後，很有趣的是，投資人保護跟社會信任兩者互為互補腳色，但跟公民合作卻是替代角色。也就是說，投資人保護會加強社會信任對債券期間的正向關係，而在投資人保護較弱的國家，公民合作對債券期間的影響會變得顯著為正。這個結果也顯示了社會文化的不同層面對公司債有多種不同影響的管道，跟法律因素也有不同的交互作用。

While prior research almost investigates only the impact of trust or conducts with only a particular one or some certain countries, we examine the impact of country-level generalized societal trust and civic cooperation on corporate debt maturity under cross-country background. Empirical evidence finds that firms in counties higher societal trust countries are usually associated with lower levels of agency problems and yield a positive influence on their bond maturities. Furthermore, we also test how investor protection affect the relation between social trust/civic cooperation and debt maturity. Consequently, we find that a positive connection between trust and debt maturity is stronger under countries with stronger investor protection, however the significant negative impact of civic cooperation on debt maturity in countries with poor legal protection. These results show that different aspects of informal culture (trust, civic cooperation) have distinguishing impact on firm’s debt maturity.

CONTENTS
論文審定書 i
摘要 ii
Abstract iii
1.Introduction 1
2.LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT 3
2.1. Social trust and civic cooperation 3
2.2. Relation between social trust/civic cooperation and debt maturity 5
2.3. Impact of Investor Protection 6
3.Data Construction 8
3.1. Sample construction 8
3.2. Measurement of Debt Maturity 8
3.3. Measurement of Social Trust and Civic Cooperation 8
3.4. Measurement of Investor Protection 10
3.5. Other controls 10
4.Empirical Design and Results 12
4.1. Methodology 12
4.2. Descriptive Statistics 13
4.3. Baseline regression results 15
4.3.1. Effect of Societal trust and civic cooperation on debt maturity 15
4.3.2. Interaction Effects for investor protection 16
5.Conclusion 18
Reference 29
Appendix 32

Reference
Aghion, P., Van Reenen, J., & Zingales, L. (2013). Innovation and institutional ownership. American economic review, 103(1), 277-304.
Anginer, D., Demirguc-Kunt, A., Simsir, S. A., & Tepe, M. (2022). Is short-term debt a substitute for or complementary to good governance? Borsa Istanbul Review, 22(2), 197-208.
Billett, M. T., King, T. H. D., & Mauer, D. C. (2007). Growth opportunities and the choice of leverage, debt maturity, and covenants. the Journal of Finance, 62(2), 697-730.
Bjørnskov, C. (2007). Determinants of generalized trust: A cross-country comparison. Public choice, 130(1), 1-21.
Boubakri, N., & Ghouma, H. (2010). Control/ownership structure, creditor rights protection, and the cost of debt financing: International evidence. Journal of Banking & Finance, 34(10), 2481-2499.
Chen, D., Liu, X., & Wang, C. (2016). Social trust and bank loan financing: Evidence from China. Abacus, 52(3), 374-403.
Cline, B. N., & Williamson, C. R. (2016). Trust and the regulation of corporate self-dealing. Journal of Corporate Finance, 41, 572-590.
Custódio, C., Ferreira, M. A., & Laureano, L. (2013). Why are US firms using more short-term debt? Journal of Financial Economics, 108(1), 182-212.
Datta, S., Iskandar‐Datta, M., & Raman, K. (2005). Managerial stock ownership and the maturity structure of corporate debt. the Journal of Finance, 60(5), 2333-2350.
Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Maksimovic, V. (1999). Institutions, financial markets, and firm debt maturity. Journal of Financial Economics, 54(3), 295-336.
El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., Pittman, J. A., & Rizeanu, S. (2016). Cross‐country evidence on the importance of auditor choice to corporate debt maturity. Contemporary Accounting Research, 33(2), 718-751.
Engle-Warnick, J., & Slonim, R. L. (2006). Inferring repeated-game strategies from actions: evidence from trust game experiments. Economic theory, 28(3), 603-632.
Francois, P., & Zabojnik, J. (2005). Trust, social capital, and economic development. Journal of the European Economic Association, 3(1), 51-94.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2004). The role of social capital in financial development. American economic review, 94(3), 526-556.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2008). Trusting the stock market. the Journal of Finance, 63(6), 2557-2600.
Holmes Jr, R. M., Miller, T., Hitt, M. A., & Salmador, M. P. (2013). The interrelationships among informal institutions, formal institutions, and inward foreign direct investment. Journal of Management, 39(2), 531-566.
Jackson, G., & Deeg, R. (2008). Comparing capitalisms: Understanding institutional diversity and its implications for international business. Journal of international business studies, 39(4), 540-561.
Jin, M., Liu, J., & Chen, Z. (2022). Impacts of social trust on corporate leverage: Evidence from China. International Review of Economics & Finance, 77, 505-521.
Johnson, S. A. (2003). Debt maturity and the effects of growth opportunities and liquidity risk on leverage. The Review of Financial Studies, 16(1), 209-236.
Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. The Quarterly journal of economics, 112(4), 1251-1288.
Knechel, W. R., Mintchik, N., Pevzner, M., & Velury, U. (2019). The effects of generalized trust and civic cooperation on the Big N presence and audit fees across the globe. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 38(1), 193-219.
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1996). Trust in large organizations. In: National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, Mass., USA.
La Porta, R., Lopez‐de‐Silanes, F., & Shleifer, A. (2006). What works in securities laws? the Journal of Finance, 61(1), 1-32.
Méon, P.-G., & Sekkat, K. (2015). The formal and informal institutional framework of capital accumulation. Journal of Comparative Economics, 43(3), 754-771.
Meng, Y., & Yin, C. (2019). Trust and the cost of debt financing. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 59, 58-73.
Miller, D. P., & Reisel, N. (2012). Do country-level investor protections affect security-level contract design? Evidence from foreign bond covenants. The Review of Financial Studies, 25(2), 408-438.
Nanda, D., & Wysocki, P. (2011). The relation between trust and accounting quality. Boston University, 691-703.
Nguyen, V. H., Choi, B., & Agbola, F. W. (2020). Corporate social responsibility and debt maturity: Australian evidence. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 62, 101374.
Pevzner, M., Xie, F., & Xin, X. (2015). When firms talk, do investors listen? The role of trust in stock market reactions to corporate earnings announcements. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(1), 190-223.
Qi, Y., Roth, L., & Wald, J. K. (2011). How legal environments affect the use of bond covenants. Journal of international business studies, 42(2), 235-262.
Redding, G. (2005). The thick description and comparison of societal systems of capitalism. Journal of international business studies, 36(2), 123-155.
Reed, M. I. (1996). Expert power and control in late modernity: An empirical review and theoretical synthesis. Organization studies, 17(4), 573-597.
Stulz, R. M., & Williamson, R. (2003). Culture, openness, and finance. Journal of Financial Economics, 70(3), 313-349.
Verba, S., & Almond, G. (1963). The civic culture. Political attitudes and democracy in five nations.
Wittenberg Moerman, R. (2009). The impact of information asymmetry on debt pricing and maturity. Available at SSRN 1152863.
Yang, D., Cheng, L., Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Zhang, L. (2020). Investor protection and cost of debt: Evidence from dividend commitment in firm bylaws. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 28(5), 294-308.
Ying, Z. (2016). The Impact of Social Capital on Debt Maturity Structure——Based on the Empirical Evidence of Listed Companies. Collected Essays on Finance and Economics, 207(5), 53.
Zheng, X., El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., & Kwok, C. C. (2012). National culture and corporate debt maturity. Journal of Banking & Finance, 36(2), 468-488.