Abstract
Several CEOs are receiving significant media attention for taking public positions on controversial social and environmental issues largely unrelated to their core business, ranging from LGBT rights to race relations to gender equality to climate change. We provide the first evidence that such “CEO activism” can influence public opinion and consumer attitudes. Our field experiment examines the impact of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public statements opposing a pending religious freedom law that critics warned would allow discrimination against same-sex couples. Our results confirm the influence of issue framing on public opinion and suggest that CEOs can sway public opinion, potentially to the same extent as prominent politicians. Moreover, Cook’s CEO activism increased consumer intentions to purchase Apple products, especially among proponents of same-sex marriage.
Highlights
Several high-profile CEOs have recently spoken out on contentious social and environmental issues in the United States, including gay rights, race relations, and climate change
To explore potential heterogeneity in how public opinion might be swayed by CEO activism, we explored whether and how policy support differed between respondents who indicated support or opposition in response to the following question: “Do you support or oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in your state?” Table 2 reports these results
This study presents the first analysis of CEO activism, whereby corporate leaders speak out on social or environmental issues that are largely unrelated to their companies’ core businesses
Summary
Evidence from a Field Experiment." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No 16-100, March 2016.
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