We examine the impact of corporate sustainability performance (CSP) on the speed at which firms adjust their leverage ratios to the target levels for a large sample of 31 countries from 2002 to 2018. Using two proxies of CSP, we find that firms with superior CSP tend to adjust faster toward their target leverage ratios. In exploring the potential underlying economic mechanisms through which CSP affects leverage adjustments, we find that better CSP helps firms to ease information asymmetry, enhance stakeholder engagement, push up stock prices in the stock market, and improve competitive advantage in the product market. In the cross section, the positive association between CSP and leverage adjustment speed is less pronounced in countries with high-quality institutions. The results remain unchanged in robustness tests. Overall, this paper highlights the important role of CSP in shaping corporate capital structure dynamics and suggests implications for corporate strategic planning on the privately optimal levels of CSP activities.

我们研究了企业可持续发展绩效 (CSP) 对 2002 年至 2018 年 31 个国家/地区的大样本的公司将其杠杆率调整到目标水平的速度的影响。 使用 CSP 的两个代理，我们发现具有卓越 CSP 的公司倾向于更快地调整到目标杠杆率。在探索 CSP 影响杠杆调整的潜在潜在经济机制时，我们发现更好的 CSP 有助于企业缓解信息不对称，增强利益相关者的参与度，推高股票市场的股价，提高产品市场的竞争优势。在横截面上，CSP 与杠杆调整速度之间的正相关在拥有高质量机构的国家不那么明显。结果在稳健性测试中保持不变。总体，