Doctoral Dissertation Research: Statistical Rating Organizations and Institutional Isomorphism

拟议的研究审查了主要公司债券评级机构作为公司投资资本的守门人，通过债券评级过程推动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概念往往指导组织行为，而不是基于经济效率的理性计算。债券评级行业存在的高度不确定性，以及少数几家评级机构缺乏问责，创造了一种环境，在这种环境下，机构对最佳实践的观念可能会为评级决策提供参考。该项目侧重于公司评级的量化分析。我假设那些从事规范行为(例如，使用流行的财务报告形式，从事典型水平的产品多样化等)的公司。将获得更高的信用评级。我使用回归模型来预测公司的信用评级，作为从事规范行为的函数。我进一步检验，从事主要债券评级机构推动的规范行为实际上是否很好地预测了公司的健康状况或违约。本研究将对现有的组织社会学文献做出贡献。通过考察债券评级机构在多大程度上将制度化的最佳做法永久化，它检验了制度同构理论，这些理论声称，在组织领域，行业规范往往胜过经济理性行为。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角度看似乎非理性的经济过程如何继续存在。此外，通过对公开的评级文件的内容分析，本研究通过分析评级机构向公司债券发行人传达适当行为的方式，直接观察到了驱动机构同构的机制。这项研究将有助于更广泛的社会，研究现有的债券评级部门，进而是整个证券评级部门，可能容易发生系统性风险的方式。这项研究考察了一群未被充分研究的强大的社会参与者，他们影响着大型全球公司的资源。通过阐明现有证券评级行业的细节，本研究将提供有助于更广泛地理解信用体系的洞察力。

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.