Gaining Access by Doing Good: The Effect of Sociopolitical Reputation on Firm Participation in Public Policy Making

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Werner, Timothy
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2092
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1989-2011
• 关键词: Reputation; resource dependency; nonmarket strategy; Corporate social responsibility

摘要

This paper examines the role of firms' sociopolitical reputations, as proxied by their perceived engagement in socially responsible practices, in public policy makers' decisions to grant access in the policy-making process. I argue that policy makers' dependencies, motivations, and decision-making processes lead them to evaluate firms by using sociopolitical reputation as a differentiating heuristic. I hypothesize that firms that construct stronger sociopolitical reputations will be granted greater access and that firms' existing political activity and policy makers' partisanship will moderate this relationship. I test these hypotheses using an 11-year panel on congressional testimony, reputation, and political and financial characteristics for the S&P 500 and find support for all three. These findings support the existence of a sociopolitical dimension to firms' reputations that affects how public policy makers evaluate firms, demonstrating that corporate social responsibility pays political benefits.