Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Organizational non-conformity in an emerging economy: Exploring the non-adoption of credit rating in China

  • Published:
Asia Pacific Journal of Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Institutional scholarship tends to emphasize the tendency of organizations to conform to prevailing practices, but this study investigates Chinese firms’ non-conformity behavior in terms of not participating in credit rating. State ownership and firm status (in terms of age, size, and human capital) are all found to be useful predictors of this non-conformity. Building on institutional theory and resource dependence theory in an emerging market context, this study proposes that non-conformity would be high for state owned enterprises (SOEs) and for both low- and high-status firms, based on their evaluations of the legitimacy of credit rating and the relative power balance between the government and themselves. In contrast, middle-status firms would be less likely to show non-conformity behaviors. Moreover, the influence of state ownership and firm status on non-conformity would be further moderated by the degree of government intervention. The results from an empirical study of 2,708 manufacturing firms in China largely support these hypotheses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors on reasonable request.

Notes

  1. Bond issuance has been limited to large SOEs or local governments. From 2000 to 2004, for example, fewer than 50 corporate bonds were issued in China, accounting for less than 1% of the country’s financial activity during that period (Kennedy, 2008).

  2. However, prior to 2001, the Chinese government’s policies and regulations were recommendations in many cases. Firms had some discretion in choosing whether to participate in credit rating (please refer to Appendix Table 6).

  3. Alternatively, the industry adoption variable was included in a model while dropping the 30 industry dummies; the results remained consistent.

  4. We used both a logistic model and a probit model and found they produced very similar results. We therefore only report the results produced by the logistic model.

References

  • Aguilera, R. V., Judge, W. Q., & Terjesen, S. A. (2018). Corporate governance deviance. Academy of Management Review, 43(1), 87–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage Publications.

  • Alsakka, R., & Gwilym, O. (2010). Leads and lags in sovereign credit ratings. Journal of Banking and Finance, 34, 2614–2626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ansari, S., Fiss, P. C., & Zajac, E. J. (2010). Made to fit: How practices vary as they diffuse. Academy of Management Review, 35(1), 67–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bannier, C. E., & Hirsch, C. W. (2010). The economic function of credit rating agencies: What does the watch list tell us? Journal of Banking & Finance, 34, 3037–3049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bascle, G. (2016). Toward a dynamic theory of intermediate conformity. Journal of Management Studies, 53(2), 131–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baum, J. A. C., & Oliver, C. (1991). Institutional linkages and organizational mortality. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 187–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baum, J. A. C., & Shipilov, A. V. (2006). Ecological approaches to organizations. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of Organization Studies (2nd ed., pp. 55–110). Sage.

  • Becker, G. S. (1964). Human Capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to Education. Columbia University Press.

  • Becker-Blease, J. R., & Sohl, J. E. (2015). New venture legitimacy: The conditions for Angel investors. Small Business Economics, 45(4), 735–749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, J., & Zelditch, M., Jr (1998). Status, power, and legitimacy: Strategies and theories. Transaction.

  • Berger, J., Fisek, M. H., Norman, R., Z., & Zelditch, M. Jr. (1977). Status characteristics and Social Interaction: An Expectation States Approach. Elsevier Scientific Publishing.

  • Berger, J., Ridgeway, C. L., & Zelditch, M. (2002). Construction of status and referential structures. Sociological Theory, 20(2), 157–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, S., Korteweg, A., & Laws, K. (2017). Attracting early-stage investors: Evidence from a randomized field experiment. Journal of Finance, 72(2), 509–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi, A. J., Kang, S. M., & Stewart, D. (2012). The organizational selection of status characteristics: Status evaluations in an open-source community. Organization Science, 23(2), 341–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bitektine, A. (2011). Toward a theory of social judgments of organizations: The case of legitimacy, reputation, and status. Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 151–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bitektine, A., & Haack, P. (2015). The macro and the micro of legitimacy: Towards a multi-level theory of the legitimacy process. Academy of Management Review, 40(1), 49–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bundy, J., Shropshire, C., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2013). Strategic cognition and issue salience: Toward an explanation of firm responsiveness to stakeholder concerns. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), 352–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cancian, F. (1979). The Innovator’s Situation: Upper-Middle-Class Conservatism in Agricultural Communities. Stanford.

  • Chadwick, C., & Dabu, A. (2009). Human resource management, and the competitive advantage of firms: Toward a more comprehensive model of causal linkages. Organization Science, 20, 253–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterji, A., & Toffel, M. (2010). How firms respond to being rated. Strategic Management Journal, 31(9), 917–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Child, J., & Möllering, G. (2003). Contextual confidence and active trust development in the chinese business environment. Organization Science, 14, 69–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coff, R. W. (1997). Human assets and management dilemmas: Coping with hazards on the road to resource-based theory. Academy of Management Review, 22(2), 374–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compagni, A., Mele, V., & Ravasi, D. (2015). How early implementations influence later adoptions of innovation: Social positioning and skill reproduction in the diffusion of robotic surgery. Academy of Management Journal, 1, 242–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deephouse, D. L. (1999). To be different, or to be the same? It’s a question (and theory) of strategic balance. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 147–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhawan, R., & Yu, F. (2015). Are credit ratings relevant in China’s corporate bond market? The Chinese Economy, 48(3), 235–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1991). Introduction. In W. W. Powell, & P. J. DiMaggio (Eds.), The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. University of Chicago Press.

  • Dobrev, S. D., & Carroll, G. R. (2003). Size (and competition) among organizations: Modeling scale-based selection among automobile producers in four major countries. Strategic Management Journal, 24, 541–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durand, R., & Kremp, P. A. (2016). Classical deviation: Organizational and individual status as antecedents of conformity. Academy of Management Journal, 59(1), 65–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durand, R., Hawn, O., & Ioannou, I. (2019). Willing and able: A general model of organizational responses to normative pressures. Academy of Management Review, 44, 299–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edman, J., & Makarevich, A. (2020). Entrenchment in status positions and the adoption of new norm-deviant organizational practices: Evidence from the japanese banking industry, 1983–2005. Organization Studies, 42(10), 1557–1580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, G., Wang, X. L., & Zhu, H. P. (2011). NERI Index of Marketization of China’s provinces 2011. Economic Science Press.

  • Fiss, P. C., & Zajac, E. (2004). The diffusion of ideas over contested terrain: The (non)adoption of shareholder value orientation among german firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49(4), 501–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frazis, H. (2002). Human capital, signaling, and the pattern of returns to education. Oxford Economic Papers, 54(2), 298–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, J., Carroll, G. R., & Hannan, M. T. (1983). The liability of newness: Age-dependence in organizational death rates. American Sociological Review, 48, 692–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartrell, J. W. (1977). Status, inequality, and innovation: The green revolution in Andra Pradesh, India. American Sociological Review, 42, 318–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geroski, P. A. (2000). Models of technology diffusion. Research Policy, 29, 603–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, S., Mirkovic, A., & Ragunathan, V. (2006). The determinants of credit ratings: Australian evidence. Australian Journal of Management, 31(2), 333–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. Academy of Management Review, 21, 1022–1054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutional entrepreneurship in mature fields: The big five accounting firms. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., Raynard, M., Kodeih, F., Micelotta, E. R., & Lounsbury, M. (2011). Institutional complexity and organizational responses. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 317–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greve, H. R., Palmer, D., & Pozner, J. E. (2010). Organizations gone wild: The causes, processes, and consequences of organizational misconduct. Academy of Management Annals, 4, 53–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haans, R. F., Pieters, C., & He, Z. L. (2016). Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U- shaped relationships in strategy research. Strategic Management Journal, 37(7), 1177–1195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatch, N. W., & Dyer, J. H. (2004). Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 25(12), 1155–1178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haveman, H. A., Jia, N., Shi, J., & Wang, Y. (2017). The dynamics of political embeddedness in China. Administrative Science Quarterly, 62(1), 67–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, A. D. (1999). Firm strategy and age dependence: A contingent view of the liabilities of newness, adolescence, and obsolescence. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 281–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heugens, P. P., & Lander, M. W. (2009). Structure! Agency! (and other quarrels): Meta-analyzing institutional theories of organization. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 61–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillman, A. C. (2005). Politicians on the board: Do connections affect the bottom line? Journal of Management, 31, 464–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoetker, G. (2007). The use of logit and probit models in strategic management research: Critical issues. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 331–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoskisson, R. E., Eden, L., Lau, C. M., & Wright, M. (2000). Strategy in emerging economies. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3), 249–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue, C., Lazzarini, S. G., & Musacchio, A. (2013). Leviathan as a minority shareholder: Firm-level implications for equity purchases by the state. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 1775–1801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacqueminet, A., & Durand, R. (2020). Ups and downs: The role of legitimacy judgement cues in practice implementation. Academy of Management Journal, 63(5), 1485–1507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaeger, D. A., & Page, M. E. (1996). Degrees matter: New evidence on sheepskin effects in the returns to education. Review of Economics and Statistics, 76, 733–739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonsson, S. (2009). Refraining from imitation: Professional resistance and limited diffusion in a financial market. Organization Science, 20(1), 172–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung, H. J., & Lee, S. H. (2023). The impact of bribery relationships on firm growth in transition economies. Organization Science, 34(1), 303–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, S. (2003). China’s credit rating agencies struggle for relevance. China Business Review, 30(6), 36–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, S. (2008). China’s emerging credit rating industry: The official foundations of private authority. China Quarterly, 193, 65–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, M. T., & Fiss, P. C. (2009). Institutionalization, framing, and diffusion: The logic of TQM adoption and implementation decisions among U.S. hospitals. Academy of Management Journal, 25(5), 897–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kollmann, T., & Kuckertz, A. (2010). Evaluation uncertainty of venture capitalists’ investment criteria. Journal of Business Research, 63(7), 741–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraatz, M. S., & Zajac, E. J. (2001). How resources affect strategic change and performance in turbulent environments. Organization Science, 12, 632–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutions and institutional work. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of Organization Studies (2nd ed., pp. 215–254). Sage Publications.

  • Li, J. T., & Tang, Y. (2010). CEO hubris and firm risk taking in China: The moderating role of managerial discretion. Academy of Management Journal, 53(1), 45–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y., Chen, H., Liu, Y., & Peng, M. W. (2014). Managerial ties, organizational learning, and opportunity capture: A social capital perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 31(1), 271–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, D., Wei, L. Q., Cao, Q., & Chen, D. (2022). Informal institutions, entrepreneurs’ political participation, and venture internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(6), 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Libaers, D. (2014). Foreign-born academic scientists and their interactions with industry: Implications for university technology commercialization and corporate innovation management. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31, 346-360.

  • Lind, J. T., & Mehlum, H. (2010). With or without U? The appropriate test for a U-shaped relationship. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 72(1), 109–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, P. W., & Wong, Y. C. (1982). Educational screening by certificates: An empirical test. Economic Inquiry, 20, 72–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, J. S. (1997). Regression models for categorical and limited dependent variables. Sage Publications.

  • Lounsbury, M. (2007). A tale of two cities: Competing logics and practice variation in the professionalizing of mutual funds. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2), 289–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Y. D. (2008). A strategic analysis of product recalls: The role of moral degradation and organizational control. Management and Organization Review, 4(2), 183–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, S., Hardy, C., & Lawrence, T. B. (2004). Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 657–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makhija, M. (2003). Comparing the resource-based and market-based views of the firm: Empirical evidence from Czech privatization. Strategic Management Journal, 24, 433–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1989). Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics. New York: Free Press.

  • Marquis, C., & Qian, C. (2014). Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: Symbol or substance? Organization Science, 25(1), 127–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D., & Chen, M. J. (1996). Nonconformity in competitive repertoires: A sociological view of markets. Social Forces, 74, 1209–1234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milliken, F. J. (1990). Perceiving and interpreting environmental change: An examination of college administrators’ interpretation of changing demographics. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 42–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishina, Y., Block, E. S., & Mannor, M. J. (2012). The path dependence of organizational reputation: How social judgment influences assessments of capability and character. Strategic Management Journal, 33, 459–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon, C., & Lado, A. (2000). MNC-host government bargaining power relationship: A critique and extension within the resource-based view. Journal of Management, 26, 85–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norman, P. M., Artz, K. W., & Martinez, R. J. (2007). Does it pay to be different? Competitive non-conformity under different regulatory regimes. Journal of Business Research, 60(11), 1135–1143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 145–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, D. A., Jennings, P. D., & Zhou, X. (1993). Late adoption of the multidivisional form by large U.S. corporations: Institutional, political, and economic accounts. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 100–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, S. H., & Luo, Y. (2001). Guanxi and organizational dynamics: Organizational networking in chinese firms. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 455–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, M. W., & Heath, P. S. (1996). The growth of the firm in planned economies in transition: Institutions, organizations, and strategic choice. Academy of Management Review, 21, 492–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, M. W., & Luo, Y. (2000). Managerial ties and firm performance in a transition economy: The nature of a micro-macro link. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3), 486–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The External Control of Organizations. Harper and Row.

  • Philippe, D., & Durand, R. (2011). The impact of norm-conforming behaviors on firm reputation. Strategic Management Journal, 32(9), 969–993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D. J., & Zuckerman, E. (2001). Middle-status conformity: Theoretical restatement and empirical demonstration in two markets. American Journal of Sociology, 107(2), 379–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ployhart, R. E., & Moliterno, T. P. (2011). Emergence of the human capital resource: A multilevel model. Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 127–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poynter, T. A. (1982). Government intervention in less developed countries: The experience of multinational companies. Journal of International Business Studies, 13(1), 9–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prato, M., Kypraios, E., Ertug, G., & Lee, Y. G. (2019). Middle-status conformity revisited: The interplay between achieved and ascribed status. Academy of Management Journal, 62(4), 1003–1027.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie, W. J., & Melnyk, S. A. (2012). The impact of emerging institutional norms on adoption timing decisions: Evidence from C-TPAT – a government antiterrorism initiative. Strategic Management Journal, 33, 860–870.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauder, M., Lynn, F., & Podolny, J. M. (2012). Status: Insights from organizational sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 38, 267–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (2001). Institutions and Organizations (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

  • Sharkey, A. J. (2014). Categories and organizational status: The role of industry status in the response to organizational deviance. American Journal of Sociology, 119(5), 1380–1433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shinkle, G. A., & Kriauciunas, A. P. (2010). Institutions, size and age in transition economies: Implications for export growth. Journal of International Business Studies, 41, 267–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silverstein, D., & Hohler, D. C. (2010). A rule-of-law metric for quantifying and assessing the changing legal environment of business. American Business Law Journal, 47(4), 795–853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, J. V., Tucker, D. J., & House, R. J. (1986). Organizational legitimacy and the liability of newness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31(2), 171–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suddaby, R. O. Y., Bitektine, A., & Haack, P. (2017). Legitimacy. Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), 451–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, P., Mellahi, K., Wright, M., & Xu, H. (2015). Political tie heterogeneity and the impact of adverse shocks on firm value. Journal of Management Studies, 52(8), 1036–1063.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svetek, M. (2022). Signaling in the context of early-stage equity financing: Review and directions. Venture Capital, 24(1), 71–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, J. (2009). Institutional structure and firm social performance in transitional economies: Evidence of multinational corporations in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 86, 171–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, J., & Tan, D. (2005). Environment–strategy co-evolution and co-alignment: A staged model of chinese SOEs under transition. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 141–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, J., & Wang, L. (2011). MNC strategic responses to ethical pressure: An institutional logic perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 98, 373–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolbert, P. S., & Zucker, L. G. (1983). Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of civil service reform, 1880–1935. Administrative Science Quarterly, 128(1), 22–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tost, L. P. (2011). An integrative model of legitimacy judgments. Academy of Management Review, 36, 686–710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchida, D. (2021). The consequence of differences: How heterogeneity in practice adaptations affects the diffusion process. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 38, 209–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron, T., Navis, C., & Fisher, G. (2013). Explaining differences in firms’ responses to activism. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), 397–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, M., & Foschi, M. (1988). Status Generalization: New Theory and Research. Stanford University Press.

  • Webster, M., & Hysom, S. J. (1998). Creating status characteristics. American Sociological Review, 63, 361–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal, J. D., & Zajac, E. J. (2001). Decoupling policy from practice: The case of stock repurchase programs. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2), 202–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal, J. D., Gulati, R., & Shortell, S. M. (1997). Customization or conformity? An institutional and network perspective on the content and consequences of TQM adoption. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 366–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersema, M. F., & Bowen, H. P. (2009). The use of limited dependent variable techniques in strategy research: Issues and methods. Strategic Management Journal, 30, 679–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witt, M. A., Fainshmidt, S., & Aguilera, R. V. (2021). Our board, our rules: Nonconformity to global corporate governance norms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 67(1), 131–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wry, T., Lounsbury, M., & Greenwood, R. (2011). The cultural context of status: Generating important knowledge in nanotechnology. In J. L. Pearce (Ed.), Status in Management and Organizations (pp. 155–190). Cambridge University Press.

  • Xie, X., Shen, W., & Zajac, E. J. (2020). When is a governmental mandate not a mandate? Predicting organizational compliance under semicoercive conditions. Journal of Management, 47(8), 2169–2197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • York, J. G., Vedula, S., & Lenox, M. J. (2018). It’s not easy building green: The impact of public policy, private actors, and regional logics on voluntary standards adoption. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), 1492–1523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, C. M., & Greve, H. R. (2018). Delayed adoption of rules: A relational theory of firm exposure and state cooptation. Journal of Management, 44(8), 3336–3363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Marquis, C., & Qiao, K. (2016). Do political connections buffer firms from or bind firms to the government? A study of corporate charitable donations of chinese firms. Organization Science, 27(5), 1307–1324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Sun, P., & Qiao, K. (2020). Wining and dining government officials: What drives political networking in chinese private ventures? Management and Organization Review, 16(5), 1084–1113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, E. (2022). Optimal distinctiveness. A New Agenda for the study of competitive positioning of Organizations and Markets. Cambridge University Press.

  • Zhu, S. (2013). Credit rating in China’s bond market: Evidence from short-term financing bonds. Modern Economy, 4, 119–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G. (1986). The production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure: 1840–1920. In B. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (8 vol., pp. 53–111). JAI Press.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Business and Management, Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China

    Weiping Liu

  2. Department of Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Jiatao Li

  3. Department of Management, Xiamen University, No. 422 South Siming Road, Xiamen, Fujian, China

    Jieyu Zhou

Authors
  1. Weiping Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiatao Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jieyu Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jieyu Zhou.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Fig. 5
figure 5

Credit rating in China: Adopting vs. non-adopting firms in the 2001 survey

Full size image

Appendix 2

Table 6 Policies related to credit rating in China
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, W., Li, J. & Zhou, J. Organizational non-conformity in an emerging economy: Exploring the non-adoption of credit rating in China. Asia Pac J Manag (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-023-09918-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-023-09918-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation