学科集体声誉与本科生源质量——学科评估信息外部性的准实验研究

Disciplinary Collective Reputation and Undergraduate Student Quality:A Quasi-Natural Experiment on the Externalities of Discipline Assessment Information

高等院校一直以来都致力于塑造良好的学科声誉,并以此吸引优质生源报考。为缓解考生与高校之间的质量信息摩擦,我国教育部开展了学科评估项目并进行质量信息披露,这提供了一个难得的准实验条件以检验高校内存在的学科集体声誉及其影响。基于2014-2020年全国范围内的学科层面高考招录数据,本文使用广义双重差分模型等因果推断方法,从集体声誉理论视角探讨了学科质量信息披露对本科生源质量影响的外部性。研究发现:以高校内部学科门类为单位,同门类学科获得学科评估结果披露对本学科生源质量具有正向的溢出效应,其他门类学科获得结果披露则会产生负面的替代效应,没有获得评估结果披露的学科也能通过“搭便车”提升录取分数。调节效应分析表明,降低质量信息摩擦和提高信息传递准确性能够削弱质量信息的外部影响。本文扩展了集体声誉理论在高等教育研究中的应用,并为高校组织学科评估工作开展以及考生志愿填报决策提供了有益的现实参考。

Historically,tertiary institutions in our country have focused on building strong disciplinary reputations to attract high-quality students.To address the issue of information asymmetry between prospective students and universities,the Ministry of Education launched a disciplinary quality assessment project,making related information publicly available.This initiative provides a unique setting for examining how collective reputation within universities affects enrollment quality.Using enrollment data at the disciplinary level from 2014 to 2020,this study applies causal inference methods,including generalized difference-in-differences models,to investigate the impact of quality information disclosure.The findings reveal that when disciplines within the same category disclose assessment results,they create a positive spillover effect,improving enrollment quality for related disciplines.In contrast,disclosures for disciplines in different categories lead to a negative substitution effect.Additionally,disciplines that do not disclose results benefit from a“free-riding”effect,gaining an enrollment score premium.The analysis also shows that reducing information friction and improving the accuracy of information transmission can mitigate these external effects.These insights extend the application of collective reputation theory in higher education and offer practical guidance for universities in organizational decision-making,the design of disciplinary assessments,and studentsapplication strategies.