Political Ideology and Organizations

Abstract

Research has shown that the political ideology of top executives is an important predictor of behaviors in organizations. While a number of recent studies have identified the impact of political ideology on some organizational outcomes, much more theory and research are needed to understand the full influence of ideology. This symposium seeks to shed additional light on the role of various types of ideologies, including the classic liberalism-conservatism axis, communist ideology, and Confucianism, in the United States and China with four theoretically rich empirical papers. Specifically, the papers in this symposium contribute to research on ideology in the management literature by: 1) examining not only liberalism- conservatism political ideology but also other types of ideologies, including communism and Confucianism; 2) expanding the scope of contexts from the United States to China; and 3) showing the ideologies of top executives are deeply connected with a range of novel organizational decisions and outcomes, including CEO activism and firms’ engagement in controversial social issues, governance orientation of the board, internationalization strategies, and stakeholder-oriented governance practices. The New Activist CEO: CEO ideology and Firms Socio-political Involvement Presenter: Michael Seth Nalick; mnalick@memphis.edu Presenter: Scott Kuban; Tulane U. Presenter: Matthew Josefy; Indiana U. - Kelley School of Business Presenter: Ronei Da Silva Leonel; U. of Memphis Presenter: M. K. Chin; Indiana U. Bloomington The Effect of the Board Chairs Political Ideology on Governance Orientation Presenter: Matias Kalm; Arizona State U. Presenter: Ryan Adam Krause; Texas Christian U. Presenter: Abhinav Gupta; U. of Washington, Seattle Presenter: Matthew Semadeni; Arizona State U. Allying with Thy Enemy? A Study of The Communist Ideological Imprint of Chinese Entrepreneurs Presenter: Christopher Marquis; Cornell U. Presenter: Kunyuan Qiao; UESTC/SFI Prosocial Values of Top Executives and Stakeholder Governance in China Presenter: XuHong Li; Fudan U. Presenter: David H. Zhu; Arizona State U. Presenter: Yuejun Tang; Fudan U.