Publication Type
PhD Dissertation
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
1-2025
Abstract
In the context of global economic growth and growing emphasis on sustainable development, this study focuses on the impact of merchant guild culture, an important part of traditional Chinese culture, on the sustainable development of enterprises. Through an in-depth exploration of the historical evolution and cultural connotations of merchant guild culture, this paper systematically analyzes its potential influence on corporate behavior and sustainable development. Using a sample of A-share listed companies and applying regression analysis and other empirical research methods, this study finds that merchant guild culture facilitates the sustainable development of enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that merchant guild culture mainly affects enterprise sustainable development by enhancing trade credit financing, suppressing managerial myopia, and increasing attention to external stakeholders. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of merchant guild culture on enterprise sustainable development is more pronounced for firms in regions with weaker formal institutions, non-state-owned enterprises, and enterprises with poorer supply chain rights protection. A series of robustness tests, including replacing the measurement of core explanatory variables, replacing the measurement of the explained variable, and excluding alternative explanations, indicate that the results are robust. This research not only enriches the understanding of the relationship between macro-cultural factors and corporate behavior but also provides a new perspective for promoting enterprise sustainable development and cultural inheritance.
Keywords
Merchant Guild Culture; Sustainable Development; Enterprise Commercial Credit Financing; Managerial Short-termism; External Stakeholders' Interests
Degree Awarded
Doctor of Business Administration (Accounting and Finance)
Discipline
Accounting | Corporate Finance
Supervisor(s)
CHENG, Qiang
First Page
1
Last Page
178
Publisher
Singapore Management University
City or Country
Singapore
Citation
WANG, Yi.
Merchant guild culture and companies’ sustainable development: An empirical investigation based on ESG performance. (2025). 1-178.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/677
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.