Let’s talk: Examining Dialogue among Firms and Outside Actors on Social and Environmental Issues

Abstract

Relying on the institutional logics perspective, we analyze the factors that enable dialogue between corporations and external actors on social and environmental issues.. We define an institutional context consisting of an overarching shareholder value logic, a social welfare logic and an environmental logic. Using data on shareholder activism, we found that both external actor power and CEO NGO experience are important features in fostering dialogue with corporations on both social and environmental issues. The external actor’s legitimacy, CEO’s NGO experience, and CEO participation in boards are significant factors to promote dialogue on social but not on environmental matters. CEO elite education, long-term CEO pay, and corporate visibility all have significant effects on enabling dialogue on environmental but not on social issues. These results indicate support the idea that social and environmental issues are rooted in different institutional logics.