企业家商会任职与违规行为:治理抑或庇护?

Founders’Affiliations with Chambers of Commerce and Regulation Violations:Governance or Harborage?

商会发展与功能演变是近年来学术研究的重要内容。本文以2004~2017年沪深两市A股上市公司为研究对象,考察企业家商会任职对违规行为的影响。研究表明:当董事长或总经理在商会任职时,企业发生违规行为的概率显著更高。总体上,商会在企业违规方面的治理作用不明显,主要体现庇护作用。进一步研究发现:(1)企业家商会任职对违规行为的庇护作用主要体现在工商业联合会中,且这种庇护作用有助于企业获取政府补助,并显著降低企业违规行为的受处罚程度;(2)企业家商会任职有助于增加董事长或总经理在外兼职的数量;(3)在弱外部监督情况下,企业家商会任职和违规行为间的正相关关系更突出。本文基于商会任职的视角,为企业家社会关系网络对企业经营决策的影响提供了新的经验证据,对政府部门进一步推动商会改革与构建国家治理体系也具有一定的启示作用。

The development of different types of chambers of commerce has spawned a vast body of literature on their influence on corporate behaviors in recent years.Using data on A-share listed firms from the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges,we analyze the relationship between founders’affiliations with chambers of commerce on their firms’regulation violations.We document that firms whose board chairs/CEOs are affiliated with chambers of commerce are more likely to violate regulations.This result suggests that chambers of commerce may provide harborage for corporate misconducts rather than serve as a source of external governance.Further analyses reveal that:(1)it is the affiliation with the Federation of Industry and Commerce,not that with two other types of chambers of commerce,that contributes to the positive association between founders’affiliations with chambers of commerce and their firms’regulation violations.Moreover,founders’affiliations with chambers of commerce are significantly positively related to government subsidies but are significantly negatively related to the penalties for regulation violations.(2)founder board chairs/CEOs have more board seats in other firms if they are affiliated with chambers of commerce.(3)weak external governance environment strengthens the positive association between founders’affiliations with chambers of commerce and regulation violations.Overall,our results not only contribute to the literature on the relation between founders’social ties and corporate behaviors but also provide a scientific basis for central and local governments to make policies targeted at reforming chambers of commerce and building national governance systems.