Trade Credit and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature Review

Katarzyna Ziętek-Kwaśniewska

doi:10.18290/pepsi-2024-0019

Published : 2025-09-25

Vol. 30 No. 2 (2024)

Trade Credit and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature Review

Katarzyna Ziętek-Kwaśniewska

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3817-8499

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/pepsi-2024-0019

Abstract

The existing literature on trade credit and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is extensive. Despite the rich discourse on the above topics, there is a lack of studies that synthesize the existing body of work on the relationship between using trade credit – as its provider and recipient – and firms’ CSR. The present article aims to address this gap by pursuing a dual objective. First, it seeks to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between firms’ CSR and their use of trade credit? Secondly, it aims to identify possible avenues for future research in a given area. This review indicates that vast studies investigating the above issue have found a positive impact of firms’ CSR performance on trade credit use – both its receiving and providing. Regarding trade credit-CSR linkage, the study highlights the need for a more in-depth examination of late or non-payment phenomena, a more detailed exploration of suppliers’ perceptions of buyers’ CSR performance, and an extension of the geographical scope of the analysis.

Keywords:

trade credit, corporate social responsibility, CSR, accounts payable, accounts receivable

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Ziętek-Kwaśniewska, K. (2025). Trade Credit and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature Review. Journal for Perspectives of Economic Political and Social Integration, 30(2), 267–293. https://doi.org/10.18290/pepsi-2024-0019

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