It is a commonly held belief that there exists a sense of stigma around insolvency, which explains the low uptake of rescue procedures in the United Kingdom and around the world. We assess the accuracy of this claim through two qualitative studies. The first is conducted through interviews with corporate directors in the United Kingdom. The second study is a comparative literature review in selected jurisdictions. The literature review reveals a prominent stigma narrative in policy and legal texts, whereas the interview data reveal only moderate levels of stigma. Rather, they indicate that a lack of knowledge and understanding of insolvency (concept, law and procedures) may be a more powerful factor in explaining why corporate directors do not file for rescue procedures.

中文翻译：

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破产是否会受到污名化？


人们普遍认为，破产存在一种耻辱感，这解释了英国和世界各地对救援程序的采用率较低的原因。我们通过两项定性研究评估了这一说法的准确性。第一个是通过采访英国的公司董事进行的。第二项研究是对选定司法管辖区的比较文献综述。文献综述揭示了政策和法律文本中突出的耻辱叙述，而访谈数据仅揭示了中等程度的耻辱。相反，它们表明，缺乏对破产（概念、法律和程序）的了解和理解可能是解释为什么公司董事不申请救助程序的一个更强有力的因素。