Policymaker Responses to CEO Activism

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Poliquin, Christopher; Hou, Young
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2023.18282
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: nonmarket/political environment; Social responsibility; power and politics

摘要

CEOs increasingly engage in activism on controversial social and political issues, such as police reform, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun control, to influence the behavior of policymakers. We run an experiment on 514 local elected politicians to examine how revealing information about CEO activism on police reform affects the views of policymakers. Additionally, we examine how CEOs' controversial positions on social issues affect politicians' willingness to privately meet with CEOs or publicly advocate for their businesses. We do not find that revealing CEO support for specific police reform policies affects policymakers' opinions. Policymakers, however, are much less willing to engage-either privately or publicly-with CEOs who take controversial positions on social issues. These results do not vary with local economic conditions or the salience of police reform, but they appear to be driven by policymakers' personal ideological commitments. Our results suggest that CEO activism may have limited influence on local politicians, at least on the topic of police reform, and they underscore the business costs of CEOs taking political positions. We discuss the implications for CEOs and the activist groups that often pressure them to take public positions on controversial issues.