A Dynamic Process Model of Private Politics

TLDR

The study investigates how corporations become more receptive to social activist challenges over time. The authors propose that chronic activist targeting prompts firms to adopt strategic management devices, which in turn empower monitors, enhance accountability, and ultimately increase receptivity to future challenges. Empirical analysis of 300 large firms from 1993 to 2009 confirms that the adoption of strategic management devices strengthens monitoring and accountability, thereby raising firms’ receptivity to activist challenges.

Abstract

This project explores whether and how corporations become more receptive to social activist challenges over time. Drawing from social movement theory, we suggest a dynamic process through which contentious interactions lead to increased receptivity. We argue that when firms are chronically targeted by social activists, they respond defensively by adopting strategic management devices that help them better manage social issues and demonstrate their normative appropriateness. These defensive devices have the incidental effect of empowering independent monitors and increasing corporate accountability, which in turn increase a firm’s receptivity to future activist challenges. We test our theory using a unique longitudinal dataset that tracks contentious attacks and the adoption of social management devices among a population of 300 large firms from 1993 to 2009.