We explore the effect of director social capital, directors with large and influential networks, on credit ratings. Using a sample of 11,172 firm-year observations from 1999 to 2011, we find that larger board networks are associated with higher credit ratings than both firm financial data and...

We explore the impact of director social capital on credit ratings. Social capital is often associated with trust and cultivated through one's personal networks. We show that firms which employ well-connected directors benefit with a higher credit rating. This result is amplified for firms that...