Doctoral Dissertation Research: Statistical Rating Organizations and Institutional Isomorphism

拟议的研究审查了主要的公司债券评级机构，作为公司投资资本的看门人，通过债券评级过程促进公司采用规范做法的程度。 根据新制度理论，当面临不确定性时，关于最佳实践的制度观念往往指导组织行为，而不是基于经济效率的理性计算。 债券评级行业的高度不确定性和少数几家评级机构缺乏问责制，创造了一种环境，在这种环境中，有关最佳做法的机构概念可能会影响评级决定。 该项目的重点是对公司评级进行定量分析。我假设那些从事规范行为的公司（例如，使用流行的财务报告形式，从事典型的产品多样化水平等）。将获得更高的信用评级 我利用回归模型来预测公司的信用评级作为一个功能，从事规范的行为。 我进一步测试是否从事规范的行为，促进主要债券评级机构实际上是一个很好的预测公司的健康或违约。 本研究将对社会学中现有的组织文献做出贡献。 通过研究债券评级机构在多大程度上延续了制度化的最佳实践，它测试了制度同构理论，该理论声称行业规范往往胜过组织领域的经济理性行为。如果合法性理论可以用来解释信用评级的一些差异，我们将更好地理解从新古典经济学的角度来看似乎是非理性的经济过程如何继续存在。此外，通过对公开发行的评级文件的内容分析，本研究通过分析评级机构向企业债券发行人传达适当行为的方式，直接观察到制度同构的驱动机制。 这项研究将有助于更广泛的社会，通过研究现有的债券评级部门，并通过扩展整个证券评级部门，可能容易出现系统性风险的方式。 本研究探讨了一个未充分研究的强大的社会行动者谁影响主要的全球公司的资源。 通过阐明现有证券评级行业的细节，这项研究将提供有助于更广泛地理解信用体系的见解。

The proposed research examines the extent to which major corporate bond rating agencies, as gatekeepers to corporate investment capital, promote the adoption of normative practices to firms through the bond rating process. According to new-institutional theories, when facing uncertainty, institutional notions about best practices often guide organizational behavior rather than rational calculations based on economic efficiency. The high level of uncertainty present in the bond rating industry and the lack of accountability that comes from the few rating agencies creates an environment in which institutional notions about best practices potentially inform rating decisions. The project focuses on quantitative analysis of firm ratings. I hypothesize that those firms engaging in normative behaviors (e.g. using popular forms of financial reporting, engaging in typical levels of product diversification, etc.) will be rewarded with higher credit ratings. I utilize regression modeling to predict firm credit rating as a function of engaging in normative behaviors. I further test whether or not engaging in the normative behaviors promoted by major bond rating agencies is in fact a good predictor of firm health or default. This research will make contributions to the existing organizational literature in sociology. By examining the extent to which bond rating agencies perpetuate institutionalized best practices, it tests theories of institutional isomorphism that claim industry norms often trump economically rational behavior in organizational fields. If theories of legitimacy can be used to explain some of the variance in credit ratings, we will gain a better understanding of how economic processes that appear irrational from a neoclassical economic perspective continue to exist. Also, through the content analysis of publicly available rating documents, this research directly observes a mechanism driving institutional isomorphism by analyzing the means through which rating agencies communicate appropriate behaviors to corporate bond issuers. This research will contribute to broader society by examining the ways in which the existing bond rating sector, and by extension the entire securities rating sector, might be prone to systemic risk. This research examines an understudied group of powerful social actors who influence the resources of major global corporations. By illuminating details of the existing securities rating industry, this research will provide insight that will help to more broadly understand credit systems.