Corporate Political Research Articles

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

This research aims at unpacking the discourse of “stick to sports,” which audiences and industry wield to police social and cultural boundaries involving corporate control, race, gender, and politics. The “stick to sports” discourse is increasingly prevalent in sports discourse, but also national political discourse, and is used to dictate who can and cannot speak and what kinds of discussions are appropriate concerning sports and politics. In this article, the sports media franchise ESPN and their “No-Politics” policy, media personality Clay Travis’ PragerU polemic, Dan Le Batard, and Jemele Hill are analyzed as sites for understanding how corporations leverage this discourse to claim neutrality or unity while disciplining employees for veering too far politically. This paper analyzes “stick to sports” through industry practices and textual extensions of the discourse, calling for sports media and communication as a discipline to incorporate a critical sports media industry studies (CSMIS) approach.

New Frontiers in Corporate Political Activities, Business-Govt Relations, and Nonmarket Strategy

New Frontiers in Corporate Political Activities, Business-Govt Relations, and Nonmarket Strategy

Corporate Political Responsibility: Corporate Engagement in the Aftermath of the Capitol Riot

Corporate Political Responsibility: Corporate Engagement in the Aftermath of the Capitol Riot

The Impact of Corporate Political Connections on Analyst Forecast Quality

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the companies have significant impact of political connections on analyst forecasts quality. Refer to the literature on relevant analyst information in the past, especially distinguish the information obtained by analysts into public information and private information, and check whether it will affect the quality of analysts’ forecast information. Our empirical results show that there is a significant negative correlation between companies with political ties and the accuracy of analysts' public information. It indicates that when companies have political connections, companies are only willing to disclose information to specific stakeholders, resulting in information asymmetry. Meanwhile, the accuracy of public information obtained by analysts is relatively low, while the accuracy of private information is relatively high for the companies with political connections. JEL classification numbers: G30, M41. Keywords: Political Connections, Analyst Forecast Quality.

Pengaruh Corporate Social Responsibility, Political Connection, Financial Performance, terhadap Reputasi Perusahaan dengan Agresivitas Pajak sebagai Variabel Modersting

This study aims to examine the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility, Political Connection, and Financial Performance on Company Reputation with Tax Aggressiveness as a moderating variable. Secondary data used in this study through data collection available on the Indonesian Stock Exchange website in the form of annual financial reports. The main population used in this study are companies registered on JII for the 2017-2021 period, where the sampling method is used. The results of this study indicate that corporate social responsibility has a positive effect on company reputation, political connections have a negative effect on company reputation, financial performance has a positive effect on company reputation, tax aggressiveness has a positive effect on company reputation, moderation of tax aggressiveness weakens the effect of corporate social responsibility on reputation. firms, moderation of tax aggressiveness strengthens the effect of political connections on corporate reputation, and moderation of tax aggressiveness strengthens the effect of financial performance on corporate reputation.

Corporate Political Activity: Taxonomies and Model of Corporate Influence on Public Policy.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people a year. The products and services of unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) such as tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods and beverages and gambling are responsible for much of this health burden. While effective public health policies are available to address this, UCIs have consistently sought to stop governments and global organisations adopting such policies through what is known as corporate political activity (CPA). We aimed to contribute to the study of CPA and development of effective counter-measures by formulating a model and evidence-informed taxonomies of UCI political activity. We used five complementary methods: critical interpretive synthesis of the conceptual CPA literature; brief interviews; expert co-author knowledge; stakeholder workshops; testing against the literature. We found 11 original conceptualisations of CPA; four had been used by other researchers and reported in 24 additional review papers. Combining an interpretive synthesis of all these papers and feedback from users, we developed two taxonomies - one on framing strategies and one on action strategies. The former identified three frames (policy actors, problem, and solutions) and the latter six strategies (access and influence policy-making, use the law, manufacture support for industry, shape evidence to manufacture doubt, displace, and usurp public health, manage reputations to industry's advantage). We also offer an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of UCI strategies and a model that situates industry CPA in the wider social, political, and economic context. Our work confirms the similarity of CPA across UCIs and demonstrates its extensive and multi-faceted nature, the disproportionate power of corporations in policy spaces and the unacceptable conflicts of interest that characterise their engagement with policy-making. We suggest that industry CPA is recognised as a corruption of democracy, not an element of participatory democracy. Our taxonomies and model provide a starting point for developing effective solutions.

Political CSR and Populism: Toward an Information-Based Theory of Political CSR

Extant research on political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) has not yet addressed how the populist turn impacts PCSR theory and practice. This conceptual article analyzes how populism influences PCSR across a range of political environments. We draw on signaling and screening theories to develop a conceptual model that advances PCSR literature by proposing an information-centric approach. We highlight the necessity of high-quality information as an enabling condition for effective PCSR-related decision-making, and our model explains how the depreciation of information transparency under populism impacts PCSR strategy. We thus contribute to PCSR literature with a new information-based theorization by showing how PCSR depends on the political environment and by enhancing our understanding of the role of the state in the development of PCSR strategies.

Corporate Political Ties and Firm Performance in a Transition Economy: A Replication and Extension of Peng and Luo (2000)

ABSTRACTHow do corporate political ties impact firm performance in a transition economy? This topic has attracted wide attention in the strategy field. Accordingly, our study replicates a highly influential study, ‘Managerial ties and firm performance in a transition economy: The nature of a micro-macro link’ (Peng & Luo, 2000). The original study found that managerial political ties greatly improve organizational performance, and that this ‘micro-macro’ link varies across ownership types, business sectors, firm sizes, and industry growth rates. This replication study offers a hierarchical view of political ties by extending it from the individual to the organizational level and explores the complex link between the two levels of corporate political ties and firm performance. The results of a staged quasi-replication exercise show some similarities with the original study in the mechanism of corporate political ties on firm performance but, more importantly, reveal some key differences in the effect size and contingent effects. Furthermore, an extended test shows that corporate political ties are multilevel, and different levels of political ties vary in their mechanisms and effects on firm performance. The findings reveal temporal and contextual sensitivities of political ties studies in transition economies.

Political Corporate Social Responsibility in Small Tourism Business: The Case of a Finnish Sled Dog Kennel

Political Corporate Social Responsibility in Small Tourism Business: The Case of a Finnish Sled Dog Kennel

Public Health and Political Corporate Social Responsibility: Pharmaceutical Company Engagement in COVAX

Pharmaceutical companies developed Covid-19 vaccines in record time. However, it soon became apparent that global access to the vaccines was inequitable. Through a qualitative inquiry as the pandemic unfolded (to mid-2021), we provide an in-depth analysis of why companies engaged with the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), identifying the internal (to the company) and external factors that facilitated or impeded engagement. While all producers of the World Health Organization (WHO)-approved vaccines engaged with COVAX, our analysis highlights the differential levels of COVAX engagement and identifies contractual obligations, opportunities and company strategy, and reputational pressures as key explanatory factors. We discuss our empirical findings relative to the literature on political corporate social responsibility (PCSR). Accordingly, we question whether pharmaceutical companies lived up to their responsibilities as corporate citizens and conclude that they failed to fulfill the implied responsibility of combating inequitable vaccine distribution. We conclude with implications of our research for practice, in relation to the challenges of global access to Covid-19 vaccines and for access to medicines more generally.

Corporate Governance and Corporate Political Responsibility

This study investigates the pivotal policy question of whether a firm’s corporate governance influences its political spending disclosures. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms from 2011 to 2019, we find empirical evidence that a board of directors’ monitoring and resource provision roles affect a firm’s political spending disclosure. Extending agency theory-driven expectations, we provide evidence that measures of a board’s monitoring role such as female monitoring directors, shorter board tenure, audit committee size, audit committee meetings, and audit committee education enhance a firm’s political spending disclosures. Second, drawing from resource dependence theory and examining a board’s resource provisions, we find evidence that female advisory directors, CEO duality, additional directorships, and audit committee characteristics (i.e., size, number of meetings, age, and education) promote political spending disclosures. The study contributes to corporate governance and corporate political activity literatures by outlining different types of governance that may drive a firm’s political spending disclosures, a key component of a firm’s political responsibility.

The Influence of Corporate Governance, Debt Covenant and Political Cost on Accounting Conservatism

The Influence of Corporate Governance, Debt Covenant and Political Cost on Accounting Conservatism

The Influence of Good Corporate Governance, Political Visibility And Profitability To Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSR) On Manufacturing Companies Listed In BEI

The Influence of Good Corporate Governance, Political Visibility And Profitability To Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSR) On Manufacturing Companies Listed In BEI

Big Tech’s power, political corporate social responsibility and regulation

The economic dominance of large Internet tech companies, specifically the ‘Big Five’ (Google, Apple, Meta née Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft), is fundamentally complicating the organisation of society. Their positions raise profound questions, old and new, at the intersection of information systems and political philosophy, where companies have traditionally appeared in liberal democracies as economic operators rather than powerful political actors that threaten to limit citizens’ fundamental rights significantly through their operations. Importantly, the traditional understanding of corporate social responsibility is rooted in the liberal-democratic conception of moral labour’s division between public and private powers in a market economy. Focussing on this division, the paper analyses the various types of political power these companies wield and the complexities of regulating that power. Thus, it contributes to the IS discipline’s theoretical discussion by introducing political theory concepts that hold untapped potential for reconciling Big Tech and modern liberal-democratic conceptions of society. Taking these concepts as underpinnings for discussing six types of power, in turn (business vs. politics, democratic government, institutions of a market economy, companies, civil society and citizens), the paper offers the discipline example research questions to tackle and points to potential directions for scholarship.

Urban Heat Transition in Berlin: Corporate Strategies, Political Conflicts, and Just Solutions

In the field of urban climate policy, heat production and demand are key sectors for achieving a sustainable city. Heat production has to shift from fossil to renewable energies, and the heat demand of most buildings has to be reduced significantly via building retrofits. However, analyses of heat transition still lack its contextualization within entangled urban politico-economic processes and materialities and require critical socio-theoretical examination. Asking about the embeddedness of heat transition within social relations and its implications for social justice issues, this article discusses the challenges and opportunities of heat transition, taking Berlin as an example. It uses an urban political ecology perspective to analyze the materialities of Berlin’s heating-housing nexus, its politico-economic context, implications for relations of inequality and power, and its contested strategies. The empirical analysis identifies major disputes about the future trajectory of heat production and about the distribution of retrofit costs. Using our conceptual approach, we discuss these empirical findings against the idea of a more just heat transition. For this purpose, we discuss three policy proposals regarding cost distribution, urban heat planning, and remunicipalization of heat utilities. We argue that this conceptual approach provides huge benefits for debates around heat transition and, more generally, energy justice and just transitions.

Corporate Political Activism and Information Transfers

Corporate Political Activism and Information Transfers

Lending Relationships and Corporate Political Ideology

Lending Relationships and Corporate Political Ideology

Do Firms Put Their Money Where Their Mouth is? Sociopolitical Claims and Corporate Political Activity

Do Firms Put Their Money Where Their Mouth is? Sociopolitical Claims and Corporate Political Activity

Corporate Political Interests in Absentia

Corporate Political Interests in Absentia

Do Corporate Social Responsibility and Political Connections Matter to Financial Performance and Financial Stability in the Banking Sector? Evidence from Indonesia

This study aims to determine the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility and political connections on financial performance and financial stability in the banking sector in Indonesia. Corporate Social Responsibility is widely seen as a form of the company's commitment to society, which can encourage sustainability. Meanwhile, political connections are seen as capable of maintaining the financial stability of banking companies, especially in countries with high levels of corruption and weak laws. The sample in this study were 26 banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2017-2020. The method used in sampling is purposive sampling method, with secondary data in the form of financial statements and company annual reports during the study period. This study uses a combined least squares regression analysis technique. The results showed that Corporate Social Responsibility had a positive effect on financial performance and had no effect on financial stability, while political connections had a negative effect on both financial performance and financial stability. This shows that banks that have political connections do not make people more trusting. Thus, the company's image in society becomes more important than political connections.