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Social Activism In and Around Organizations
Abstract
Organizations are frequent targets for social activists aiming to influence society by first altering organizational policies and practices. Reflecting a steady rise in research on this topic, we review recent literature and advance an insider-outsider framework to help explicate the diverse mechanisms and pathways involved. Our framework distinguishes between different types of activists based on their relationship with targeted organizations. For example, “insider” activists who are employees of the target organization have certain advantages and disadvantages when compared with “outsider” activists who are members of independent social movement organizations. We also distinguish between the direct and indirect (or spillover) effects of social activism. Much research has focused on the direct effects of activism on targeted organizations, but often the effects on non-targeted organizations matter more for activists goals of achieving widespread change. Drawing on this framework, we identify and discuss eight specific areas that are in need of further scholarly attention.
... If the bottom-up change frameworks discussed previously toy with the idea of radical change, this framework unabashedly pursues what some would consider the revolutionary overturning of the received notions of what constitutes "top" and "bottom" in organizations. Nevertheless, research on social movements in organizations acknowledges the need for incremental piecemeal change efforts (Scully and Segal 2002) and micro-level influence tactics (Briscoe and Gupta 2016). ...
... Because Kezar's tempered leadership is more aligned with TR than with Scully and Segal's (2002) much more extreme goals of social movements, the author has placed the discussion of tempered leadership with that of TR and IE. In social movement research, activism in organizations on a tactical level focuses largely on persuasion and educational efforts (Briscoe and Gupta 2016). Activism tends to be described in terms of employee groups, like those representing social identities such as race and sexual orientation, rather than the individual bottom-up change agent; however, many of the influencing tactics apply to single employees seeking change. ...
... Activism tends to be described in terms of employee groups, like those representing social identities such as race and sexual orientation, rather than the individual bottom-up change agent; however, many of the influencing tactics apply to single employees seeking change. In their work on organizational change, Briscoe and Gupta (2016) identify four micro-level influence tactics of grassroots activism. ...
Numerous theoretical frameworks have addressed organizational change agency outside traditional executive-driven top-down methods. However, bottom-up change agents likely remain unsure of their change-making capacities for two main reasons: (1) having limited formal authority and resources and (2) having been largely overlooked as an audience in the literature. This article addresses the second reason, which is a gap in the literature. Using the analogy of a bricoleur and their varied tools, this article describes a maker mindset and a set of tactical actions comprising a Tactical Moves Inventory (TMI). Bottom-up organizational change is presented as a process of tactically refitting workspace resources, similar to how a bricoleur tinkers with what is available. Impacts ultimately emerge through garnering local breakthroughs (even amid constraints) through ingenuity, resourcefulness, and community building. The TMI is applied to present an example of a bottom-up changemaker project.
... By providing a typology of activism strategies, along with their associated outcomes and moderators, we offer a more robust theoretical framework of CEO activism. This model focuses on CEO behavior-rather than just traits or ideologies-answering calls for a better understanding of how CEOs can strategically manage activism for the benefit of their organizations, stakeholders, and themselves (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... 6 Numerous communication platforms are available to CEOs to share such statements, including internal communication channels with employees (Branicki et al., 2021), firm-owned media outlets (Larcker et al., 2018), print and online magazines and news outlets (Gaines-Ross, 2017), and social media platforms such as X and LinkedIn (Afego & Alagidede, 2021;Mikeska & Harvey, 2015). Especially in the modern era, media coverage of CEO Talkdubbed amplification-makes it even more visible to wider audiences, heightening its influence across a diverse array of stakeholders (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Westphal & Deephouse, 2011). ...
... CEO celebrity, the degree to which a CEO becomes emblematic of broader social or cultural ideals or has a publicly admired persona , plays a pivotal role in moderating the effects of activism engagement strategies on both CEO and firm outcomes. A high-profile CEO's activism can significantly amplify the impact of their actions (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016), especially when engaging in substantive activism. The visibility and influence of celebrity status enable CEOs to mobilize resources more effectively and attract greater attention to their causes. ...
The traditional responsibility of a CEO—prioritizing firm performance and shareholder returns—has become increasingly intertwined with expectations to actively engage with sociopolitical issues. These competing expectations have created a scenario where engaging, not engaging, or incorrectly engaging in CEO activism all carry the risk of alienating at least some stakeholders and undermining CEO and firm reputation and performance. Further, extant research has primarily focused on whether CEOs engage in activism rather than disentangling the heterogeneous ways by which they do so. We address these shortcomings and augment existing theory by comprehensively considering distinct CEO activism engagement strategies, their outcomes, and the moderators influencing relations between the two. Moreover, we illuminate the highly heterogeneous nature of CEO activism to better capture the phenomenon’s complexity. We first introduce the CEO Activism Decision Matrix—a typology of four unique activism engagement strategies based on the behavioral dimensions of CEO Talk (leveraging communicative power) and CEO Action (leveraging economic power), successfully addressing the heterogeneity in activism behaviors that existing theory has overlooked. We then present an integrative conceptual model that outlines the short- and long-term consequences and relevant moderators of CEO activism engagement and offer detailed recommendations for future research, including methodological guidance on operationalizing variables and designing research that can infer causality. Altogether, we demonstrate that although CEOs may find themselves “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” engage in activism, they also have the potential to drive meaningful career, firm, and societal change based on how they choose to engage.
... By providing a typology of activism strategies, along with their associated outcomes and moderators, we offer a more robust theoretical framework of CEO activism. This model focuses on CEO behavior-rather than just traits or ideologies-answering calls for a better understanding of how CEOs can strategically manage activism for the benefit of their organizations, stakeholders, and themselves (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... 6 Numerous communication platforms are available to CEOs to share such statements, including internal communication channels with employees (Branicki et al., 2021), firm-owned media outlets (Larcker et al., 2018), print and online magazines and news outlets (Gaines-Ross, 2017), and social media platforms such as X and LinkedIn (Afego & Alagidede, 2021;Mikeska & Harvey, 2015). Especially in the modern era, media coverage of CEO Talkdubbed amplification-makes it even more visible to wider audiences, heightening its influence across a diverse array of stakeholders (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Westphal & Deephouse, 2011). ...
... CEO celebrity, the degree to which a CEO becomes emblematic of broader social or cultural ideals or has a publicly admired persona , plays a pivotal role in moderating the effects of activism engagement strategies on both CEO and firm outcomes. A high-profile CEO's activism can significantly amplify the impact of their actions (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016), especially when engaging in substantive activism. The visibility and influence of celebrity status enable CEOs to mobilize resources more effectively and attract greater attention to their causes. ...
... Organisational scholars have increasingly examined how employees and other organisational members engage in activism within their organisations (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Carollo & Guerci, 2018;Girschik, 2020;Meyerson, 2001;Wright et al., 2012). Sometimes referred to as "insider activists" (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Girschik, 2020) or "tempered radicals" (Meyerson & Scully, 1995), organisational members must negotiate the position of being insiders while challenging the status quo. ...
... Organisational scholars have increasingly examined how employees and other organisational members engage in activism within their organisations (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Carollo & Guerci, 2018;Girschik, 2020;Meyerson, 2001;Wright et al., 2012). Sometimes referred to as "insider activists" (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Girschik, 2020) or "tempered radicals" (Meyerson & Scully, 1995), organisational members must negotiate the position of being insiders while challenging the status quo. The resulting tensions create paradoxical situations in which different and possible clashing demands make it difficult for such individuals to situate themselves unproblematically within their organisations (Bartunek & Rynes, 2014;Carollo & Guerci, 2018). ...
... The resulting tensions create paradoxical situations in which different and possible clashing demands make it difficult for such individuals to situate themselves unproblematically within their organisations (Bartunek & Rynes, 2014;Carollo & Guerci, 2018). Both members and critics, such individuals challenge the insider-outsider distinction, leading to a variety of individual and organisational consequences that have come under increased scrutiny (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
The current study examines researcher–practitioner collaborations in the context of employee activism, a context in which the role of reflexivity and theorisation relate in unique ways. Specifically, we examine the collaboration between researchers and a practitioner sustainability manager, in the context of an ongoing organisational sustainability campaign at a French business school. Within the context of an ethnographic, participant observer study, we examine how the roles of “theory” and “practice” are distributed in dynamic ways, and how, across the study, roles are challenged and inverted, oscillating in dialectical moments which we term “praxis encounters”. We contribute to growing debates around academic–practitioner collaborations by showing how the roles of researchers and practitioners evolve dialectically over the course of a project, how employee activism may be studied using collaborative approaches, and how human resource managers may support employee activism. We call for future research about the variety of such dynamics across diverse contexts.
... That being said, those in the minority groups may still have to contend with some disconnect between the values and beliefs they hold and those of the majority in the organization (Meyerson & Scully, 1995). Thus, such remaining differences with the majority may create tension for those in the minority, resulting in some becoming insider activists or 'tempered radicals' (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... TRs are formed as a result of a situational factor where they have lack of fit with the dominant culture of the organization due to social identity and/or ideological differences (e.g., race, gender, values; Meyerson, 2008). For instance, they may focus upon social issues (e.g., desire for more environmental concerns regarding organizational practices) in addition to standard minority demographic comparisons (e.g., LBGTQ employees in an organization with straight majority), making them behave like social activists for their causes at work (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). They are motivated to pursue these causes because they desire a more mutually beneficial work environment for themselves (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Meyerson & Scully, 1995) but also identify with, are committed, and want to remain with the organization (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). ...
... For instance, they may focus upon social issues (e.g., desire for more environmental concerns regarding organizational practices) in addition to standard minority demographic comparisons (e.g., LBGTQ employees in an organization with straight majority), making them behave like social activists for their causes at work (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). They are motivated to pursue these causes because they desire a more mutually beneficial work environment for themselves (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Meyerson & Scully, 1995) but also identify with, are committed, and want to remain with the organization (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). For TRs to solve this state of ambivalence, they must enact social changes that typically clash with the organizational norms in an attempt to implement more inclusive practices that minimize their personal incongruence with the intent of benefiting organizations (Meyerson & Scully, 1995;Vadera et al., 2013;Warren, 2003). ...
Organizations that are adaptive, diverse, and socially responsible are often built by Tempered Radicals (TRs) who implement positive change. These TRs are insider activists who serve as the catalysts for incremental constructive changes within their organization. Little is known about what motivates such individuals. To better understand their motives, we conduct two studies encompassing four samples (N = 1009) from the U.S. In Study 1a-c, we develop and validate a measure of TR motives. The findings support its multidimensionality as a measure as well as its nomological validity. In Study 2, based on the literature on TRs and the proactive motivation model, we hypothesize a model in which the relationships among proactive personality, leader-member exchange, TR motives, and three relevant work outcomes are examined. Using a two-wave survey study design, we find support for the proposed hypotheses. These findings carry implications for practice and future research.
... Consequently, this paper addresses an important question of how consumers react to luxury brand activism while uncovering the underlying psychological mechanisms such as enhanced luxury brand perception, i.e., the extent to which a brand is perceived as luxurious and prestigious (Amatulli, De Angelis, and Donato 2020), and potential boundary conditions. Our research thereby builds on corporate socio-political activism (Bhagwat et al. 2020;Moorman 2020) and social movement literature (Briscoe and Gupta 2016) to investigate the effect of brand activism on consumer purchase intentions. Moreover, we extend the literature on luxury value perception (Amatulli, De Angelis, and Donato 2020;Shukla and Purani 2012) by uncovering the underlying mechanisms of self-expressive value (Shukla and Purani 2012) and luxury brand perception (Kim et al. 2020;Shukla, Rosendo-Rios, and Khalifa 2022). ...
... Therefore, we contend that brand activism by a luxury brand might enhance purchase intentions. We build our proposition on social movement theories, which indicate that firms engage in social activism to gain positive evaluations, as the public will generally support corporate activism (Briscoe and Gupta 2016). ...
Brands are increasingly taking an active stance on divisive socio‐political issues such as racial justice, transgender rights, gun control, and international conflicts (e.g., the Ukraine‐Russia war). Due to its polarizing nature, brand activism can be a risky strategy, and it is not yet understood how consumers react to brand activism conducted by luxury firms. We propose that activism by luxury brands can act as a novel form of marketing communication that leads to favorable brand outcomes. In four studies (and one pre‐test), we demonstrate the positive effect of luxury activism on consumer purchase intentions and brand evaluations. The effect, to an important extent, is driven by self‐expressive value perception, which enhances the brand's luxury perception, resulting in enhanced purchase intentions. We validate the proposed framework by examining various activism topics (the Ukraine‐Russia war, abortion rights, the “Black Lives Matter” movement). The findings further demonstrate that the effect of brand activism is contingent upon consumer political identity. Specifically, this effect holds for liberal consumers but not for conservative consumers due to the symbolic benefits the former derive from activism, which can manifest in higher purchase intentions.
... Scholars have recognized that anti-corporate campaigns can have spillover effects, affecting organizations outside of the activists' original target zones (Ingram, Yue, & Rao, 2010). This line of research focuses primarily on the attributes of activist groups by examining how spillover effects vary by activist type (insider versus outsider activists) or whether the use of different types of tactics can stimulate the spread of activism (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... First, we contribute to the activists-firms rivalry perspective in social movement research with a specific focus on non-target firms. While a large body of work explains how social movements elicit corporate change with a strong focus on the confrontation and conflicts of activists against targeted organizations (King & Soule, 2007;Rao, Morrill, & Zald, 2000;, a new research direction has noted different types of corporate targets (primary targets vs. non-targets), calling for attention to a broader impact of activism beyond targeted organizations (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). Nevertheless, while previous research has mainly focused on the activist side by examining how activist-specific tactics affect the diffusion process of movement participation, it has not adequately accounted for how the activist-primary target conflict affects non-targeted firms. ...
While a large body of research explains how social movements elicit corporate change by focusing on confrontation of activists against targeted organizations, it remains unclear how the conflicts between activists and their primary targets affect non-target firms. Drawing on social movements research and non-market strategy literature, we examine how non-target firms respond to social contentiousness in the non-market environment in the context of the creation of automotive emissions controls in Japan in the early 1970s. Our findings challenge the somewhat linear assumption that confrontation and direct action against focal firms is a necessary condition for activists seeking change. Instead, our findings underscore the importance of also considering non-target firms in understanding the impact and influences of movements on the broader non-market environment. Moreover, our findings contribute to the non-market strategy literature by revealing that social value-based strategies can serve as an alternative way for corporate targets to exert influence in non-market environments. Specifically, we present a model that shows the linkages between intentional non-market strategies and strategic motivation in market competition, thus responding to calls to consider the linkage between non-market and market strategies.
... The outcomes of activistic SEs are confined to overcoming institutional barriers. Similar to organizations in the social movement sector, activistic SEs engage in collective action to advance changes in the social order (Briscoe and Gupta, 2016). These SEs fund their political action through market-based activities. ...
... The seven SE types in this typology exhibit both commonalities and distinctions compared to cultural and institutional entrepreneurship (Dacin et al., 2010), social movements (Alvord et al., 2004), activism (Briscoe and Gupta, 2016) and social innovation (Nicholls, 2010). While the latter engage in prosocial organizing to achieve outcomes similar to those discovered in our study of SEs, they are 'agnostic about the role of business' (Nicholls, 2010, p. 626). ...
Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a global phenomenon aimed at tackling societal grand challenges through market‐based activities. A holistic understanding of social enterprise outcomes is crucial for reflecting their effectiveness in meeting social objectives and informing internal organizational processes. This study explores the outcomes of social enterprises through a comparative qualitative analysis of 49 social ventures in Austria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States, spanning diverse sectors. Three key outcome dimensions are identified: individual transformation, capital provision, and societal influence. Our analysis results in a typology of seven distinct types of social enterprises, each integrating these dimensions to varying degrees. Utilizing this typology, we reveal how social enterprises navigate barriers to solving complex social and environmental problems, illustrating the dynamic interplay between outcome dimensions and the importance of multi‐objective organizing – beyond hybrid organizing – in addressing complex societal issues.
... A potência computacional utilizada na captação e análise de dados permite às empresas avaliarem, em tempo real, as volatilidades das preferências de mercado. Embora existam discussões sobre como as empresas devem utilizar esses dados de forma estratégica, a captação dos dados e sua consequente análise tornaram-se indispensáveis, pois o uso generalizado da internet, de mídias sociais e sites gratuitos de compartilhamento de arquivos e vídeos facilitou a transmissão de informações persuasivas sobre questões diversas, bem como informações envolvendo organizações ou seus líderes em relação a problemas sociais (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... Nesse sentido, é provável identificar rastros eletrônicos que revelem vários impactos intencionais e não intencionais do ativismo contra organizações. Esses resíduos podem ser usados, por exemplo, para mapear o surgimento dinâmico de uma rede de ativistas internos (e externos) ao longo do tempo, ou para um evento ao longo da história (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
Context
social media have an immense amount of information, being a space for its dissemination. Individuals, online connections, are able to filter or give visibility to certain information, to the detriment of others. The central problem lies in monitoring posts and reactions aimed at corporate actions and strategies. In addition to this monitoring, companies can make decisions based on the data collected.
Objective
to develop and structure a social media management tool.
Methods
to achieve the general objective, the article was developed in three main steps. The first was to suggest a free software script for capturing and initial analysis of Twitter posts. The second step was to categorize this analysis and identify resources and competencies needed by companies. Finally, actions to be taken by companies for social media management were suggested.
Results
the developed script enabled the automated extraction of data, which were stored in a database for analysis and management of online interactions. The actions were proposed based on the case study developed.
Conclusions
in the practical field, this study contributes to the process of extracting data from Twitter by proposing a new script for capturing data, identifying the main categories of influence of digital activists and monitoring social media through strategic actions. By demonstrating that the script is effective in extracting data, it is possible to carry out further studies and implement the social media management monitoring process.
Keywords:
on-line social activism; social media monitoring; Twitter data extraction; secondary data
... Although there are discussions about how companies should use this data strategically, the capture and consequent analysis of data have become indispensable, as the widespread use of the internet, social media, and free file and video sharing sites have facilitated the transmission of persuasive information on diverse issues, as well as information involving organizations or their leaders in relation to social issues (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
... In this sense, it is likely that electronic traces will be identified that reveal various intentional and unintentional impacts of activism against organizations. These residuals can be used, for example, to map the dynamic emergence of a network of internal (and external) activists over time, or for an event over history (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). ...
Context
social media have an immense amount of information, being a space for its dissemination. Individuals, online connections, are able to filter or give visibility to certain information, to the detriment of others. The central problem lies in monitoring posts and reactions aimed at corporate actions and strategies. In addition to this monitoring, companies can make decisions based on the data collected.
Objective
to develop and structure a social media management tool.
Methods
to achieve the general objective, the article was developed in three main steps. The first was to suggest a free software script for capturing and initial analysis of Twitter posts. The second step was to categorize this analysis and identify resources and competencies needed by companies. Finally, actions to be taken by companies for social media management were suggested.
Results
the developed script enabled the automated extraction of data, which were stored in a database for analysis and management of online interactions. The actions were proposed based on the case study developed.
Conclusions
in the practical field, this study contributes to the process of extracting data from Twitter by proposing a new script for capturing data, identifying the main categories of influence of digital activists and monitoring social media through strategic actions. By demonstrating that the script is effective in extracting data, it is possible to carry out further studies and implement the social media management monitoring process.
Keywords:
on-line social activism; social media monitoring; Twitter data extraction; secondary data
... It is the tempered radical's personal interest in social change that encourages their proactivity, enabling them to work as social activists, pursuing change for mutual benefit with resilience when their direction may not align with organisational norms (Bajaba, Fuller, Simmering, Haynie, Ring, & Bajaba, 2022;Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). The tempered radical's identity takes on a dual nature, defined by Meyerson and Scully (1995: 588) as a 'state of enduring ambivalence'. ...
... As Phillipe and Kiri's narratives illustrate, the tempered radicals within this study are calling on their broader life experiences to draw different worlds closer together, in the best interests of others and their organisations, and they do so without necessarily seeking compromise. Briscoe and Gupta (2016) note, tempered radicals are motivated to do this because they hope for a mutually beneficial outcome for themselves and their organisations. ...
The tempered radical enjoys their work and is committed to their organisation. Yet, something important to them, like their values or identity, makes them feel different from their workplace's dominant culture. This sense of difference, and their tempered approach to radical change, allow them to work unnoticed in organisations as invisible champions of inclusion. This study examines how tempered radicals use their abilities as change agents to foster inclusion. It takes advantage of manufacturing industries' highly collaborative, richly diverse and rapidly changing employment environment. Drawing participants from all organisational levels demonstrates the broad influence of the tempered radical. Twenty-four qualitative interviews were conducted using a narrative inquiry methodology and interpreted through thematic analysis. This study builds on current theory and makes a valuable contribution by proposing a framework to illustrate the key characteristics of the tempered radical incorporating inclusion in the workplace.
... Our research echoes other studies that suggest that there is a need for work on how analysts and investors react to corporate activism and the effects of their reactions on both sponsor and target firms' market values (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). Thus, the goal of the present research is twofold: 1) to find if stock prices of sponsor firms have abnormal returns that could be attributed to the campaign; and 2) to find if boycott campaigns generate abnormal returns on target firms' market value. ...
... Investors can react favorably to the company's actions related to corporate philanthropic donations , but these donations are defensive actions (Wu et al., 2020) unlike the boycott, which is more offensive by nature. There are also activist investors who force companies to be more socially and environmentally responsible through different strategies (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016) and these types of investors are capable of promoting changes in corporate policies (Proffitt & Spicer, 2006). However, other shareholders could consider that boycotts enacted by corporate activism could be dangerous and lead to dispersion in companies' efforts to maximize stakeholder value (Bhagwat et al., 2020), which will have a negative effect on financial support for the boycott. ...
Corporate activism is a growing practice whereby companies take a stand on a social, political, or environmental issue, usually controversial, to contribute to social change. This research examines a corporate activism action targeting a company and conducted through a corporate boycott. The research has analyzed the stock market performance of the target (Facebook) and the sponsor companies after the Stop Hate for Profit campaign. The results show that the company that suffers boycott receives a significant negative effect on the stock market, but the sponsoring companies have no effect. Thus, even though corporate activism is a stakeholder demand and previous research highlights its importance on brand management strategies, the companies that support it do not obtain a positive impact on the value of their share prices. The article presents a series of recommendations for practitioners and academics.
... We envision owners (shareholders) as insider activists who possess valuable knowledge of the informal social structures, prevailing values and culture, and organizational routines of their companies. Such insider knowledge is particularly useful in building pressure on companies to be more socially and environmentally responsible [28]. Through ownership strategy, insider activists can gain access to knowledge about the company's current leadership style, values, and political coalitions that indicate support or resistance to the activists' goals. ...
... We explored how responsible ownership and collective action can be solidified through an ownership strategy when owners and stakeholders are clear on their roles and purpose. Through an ownership strategy, insider activists [28] gain access to better knowledge of the company's current leadership style, values, and the coalitions that indicate support to activists' goals. We add to existing research on SOEs that has recognized their goals to be more than the "bottom line", such as increasing commitments in complying with CSR/ESG criteria [40][41][42]. ...
This study aimed to contribute to the strand of literature encompassing governance, sustainability, and stakeholder theory by addressing an inchoate element of responsible ownership: collective action by different stakeholders. Our study’s originality rests on the introduction of an ownership strategy as a governance mechanism for collective action and responsible ownership in order to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. Using a twofold empirical methodology—studying of archival data and qualitative case work—we provide empirical evidence from a case study of a Nordic energy company showing that applying an ownership strategy helped to strengthen the approach to SDGs and ESG while leading to positive benefits: in this case, the issuance of green bonds. Our theoretical contribution is the addressing of a gap in the literature exploring how an ownership strategy can be a uniting point for collective action, based on the hypothesis that an ownership strategy provides an important reinforcement of a “virtuous cycle”. Policymakers who are interested in promoting long-term commitment of different stakeholders with a focus on sustainability and improved agency should encourage the formulation of an ownership strategy that explains the owners’ commitment to the environment, social causes, and/or governance guidelines. Therein lies the practical contribution of this work. In this study, we found that an ownership strategy with these elements helped to strengthen the firm’s commitment to SDGs and ESG.
... From an organisational perspective, activism is a form of organising that involves collective action, decision-making, leadership, coordination, governance, and strategies for change. Activism is studied as part of the ephemera: theory & politics in organization 24(2) 4 | editorial politics of organising, focusing on power relations and resistance (Briscoe and Gupta, 2016;Skoglund and Böhm, 2020). From global school strikes to occupations and civil disobedience, activist organising fosters a (re)articulation of our understanding of autonomy (e.g. ...
ephemera: theory & politics in organization
Special Issue Editorial on 'Activist Organising: A post-pandemic world in the making'
... Furthermore, a company's CSA statements can be a double-edged sword. Studies found that CSA instigated buycotts (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;You et al., 2023) or boycotts (Rim et al., 2020). Wang et al. (2022) discovered that heightened brand support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) could cause adverse effects, such as losing followers and likes, and combining self-promotion with BLM support exacerbates these negative repercussions. ...
This study investigates how U.S. Fortune 500 corporate social advocacy (CSA) discourse on multiple contentious issues is associated with public attention on Twitter/X. Our theoretical framework elucidates three discourse types and conceptualizes the diversity, structure, and stability of discourse coalition networks. Utilizing computational methods and dynamic network analysis of 43,791 corporate tweets over two years, findings reveal a prevalent use of aspirational communication in addressing climate change and healthcare disparities. Functional discourse is predominantly employed in tweets on racial equality and COVID-19 vaccination, while localization discourse is concentrated in tweets about gender/sexuality. Network analysis shows that discourse coalitions exist across industries, with a convergence in discourse types and low temporal stability in network compositions. Most discourse types and features of discourse coalition networks are positively associated with public attention to CSA tweets, though these associations vary across different issues.
... "Labour activists" (Marens 2013:459), "internal activists" (Wickert and Schaefer 2015:107) and "organisational activists" (Spicer, Alvesson, and Kärreman 2009:552) have previously been analysed with focus on hierarchical struggles and resistance between workers and managers. Even if many of these activists are interested in transforming their employer from within, they can also be further interested in having an impact on other organisations (Briscoe and Gupta 2016). To understand this phenomenon, some scholars have used social movement studies to emphasise how professional work contexts can become prosperous places for "the working out of political issues" that elicit broader changes of society (Zald and Berger 1978:825). ...
This chapter discusses climate activism in relation to speed, to explore two emerging polarized forms of “insider activism”, conceptualised as movements pursued in professional contexts. Both movements respond to the expressed “climate emergency”, the first by propagating for a Fast movement and the second for a Slow movement. By first presenting a spectrum of velocities that have emerged in response to the climate emergency, this chapter replays these temporal responses in two fictional polarizations of insider climate activism. The first illustration portrays employee activism within a CO2 polluting corporation, to investigate how Fast movements can develop within business. The second illustration, in contrast, portrays insider activism performed by public officials who work for a regional office, to explore how Slow movements can prosper within public organizations. This method produces a polarization, facilitating a reflective comparison of how activism pursued at work can take different transformative paces, sometimes successfully aligning with other organisational rhythms and professional practices. While very diverse activist movements, slow as well as fast, could prosper within both the private and public sectors, these two polarized fictional examples provide insights into the largely unexplored desynchronized velocities that exist in climate activism.
... Finally, growing recognition of and support for the rights and resources of internal LGBTI+ (activist) employee networks indicates that commercialism does not necessarily exclude activism. Enabled by the companies' Pride participation, activist employee resource groups may use their insider-knowledge about the structures, cultures, and practices of the organisation to which they belong to persuade and educate management (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Skoglund & Böhm, 2020), seizing the opportunity for change and pushing current boundaries of aspirational solidarity. In its extreme, this push leads corporate partners to intervene directly in political processes to, for instance, advocate changes in legislation. ...
Based on a qualitative study of Copenhagen 2021 WorldPride, this article explores collaboration between the local organiser and its corporate partners, focusing on the tensions involved in this collaboration, which emerge from and uphold relations between the extremes of unethical pinkwashing, on the one hand, and ethical purity, on the other. Here, pinkwashing is understood as a looming risk, and purity as an unrealizable ideal. As such, corporate sponsorships of Pride are conceptualized as inherently impure—and productive because of their very impurity rather than despite it. Analytically, we identify and explore three productive tensions where the first involves emergent normativities for what constitutes good, right, or proper corporate engagement in Pride, the second revolves around queer(ed) practices and products that open normativities, and the third centres on the role of internal LGBTI+ employee-driven networks whose activism pushes organisations to become further involved in Pride, developing aspirational solidarity. Reading across literatures on corporate activism and queer organisation, we introduce Alexis Shotwell’s notion of constitutive impurity to suggest that the potential for ethical corporate Pride partnerships arises when accepting the risk of pinkwashing rather than seeking to overcome it.
... Activism encompasses any action or initiative aimed at instigating societal transformation (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016). It stands as a pivotal driver of societal advancement, as it strives to rectify injustices, provide a voice for marginalized individuals in the face of grave societal events, awaken the unaware to harsh realities, and condemn and educate those responsible for wrongdoing, particularly human rights violations. ...
This research delves into the involvement of students in digital activism, utilizing a multi-method approach that includes social media account observation, surveys, and interviews with 180 scholars, 83 of whom have prior digital activism experience. Employing the triangulation method ensures data reliability. Key concerns raised by students encompass academic workload, mental health, the Philippine government, and racism. The predominant forms of engagement include liking, posting, or tweeting, along with reporting abusive content, and participation in polls and surveys. The study reveals that digital activism can be a double-edged sword, with potential negative consequences such as spreading fake news and stifling opposing views, juxtaposed with positive effects like providing a platform for expressing concerns, raising awareness, and informing citizens about societal issues. Social media emerges as a potent tool for activism, embodying a modern version with both positive and negative consequences, as perceived by the involved students at PSHS-IRC. Students at PSHS-IRC engage in social movements through various social media platforms, addressing societal issues even if they may not always recognize their involvement. The research enhances our understanding of their digital activism, shedding light on prevalent issues like overwhelming school requirements, mental health concerns, the Philippine government, and racism. Common methods employed include liking posts, reporting abusive content, and participating in polls and surveys. Positive outcomes include the opportunity to express opinions, raise awareness, and disseminate information, although negative consequences such as causing harm, spreading fake news, and neglecting opposing perspectives are acknowledged.
... Returning to our examples, Sam McCracken was working at a Nike warehouse when he had his initial idea, whereas Myriam Sidibe had been hired as Global Social Mission Director for Unilever Lifebuoy-indeed with accountability for social issues, but freedom to design her mandate. These differences in mandate and access to institutionalized channels of influence (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016) are likely to shape how individuals assume entrepreneurial roles and express their personal values at work, raising the need to clarify the pathways through which one becomes a social intrapreneur. ...
Social intrapreneurs can help corporations to address grand challenges and create hybrid value—that is simultaneous commercial and social value—by identifying and exploring entrepreneurial opportunities that address social or environmental issues. However, we still know little about how individuals assume social intrapreneurial roles in corporations. Based on a qualitative study of social intrapreneurs and their supporters, we identify variations in social intrapreneurial profiles along two dimensions: the role of the social intrapreneur in the entrepreneurial process (idea initiator versus idea explorer), and their position (within core business departments versus within sustainability departments). We contribute to the literature by identifying four different types of social intrapreneurs as corporate change agents—the Visionary Business Insurgent, the Visionary Sustainability Transformer, the Enabled Business Expert, and the Enabled Sustainability Expert—and by shedding light on four pathways to social intrapreneurship that vary in initial levels of agency and ethical expression.
... Handbook on European Union climate change policy and politics NOTES 1. For a discussion of insider-outsider framework in social movements, seeBriscoe and Gupta (2016) and, for EU civil society specifically,Dür and Mateo (2016). 2. See: https:// ec .europa ...
Through detailed and wide-ranging analysis, the Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics provides a critical assessment of current and emerging challenges facing the EU in committing to and delivering increasingly ambitious climate policy objectives. Highlighting the importance of topics such as finance and investment, litigation, ‘hard to abate’ sectors and negative emissions, it offers an up-to-date exploration of the complexities of climate politics and policy making.
... Общественный активизм также определяется как действия граждан, направленные на осуществление социальных, политических, экономических или экологических изменений в обществе [Martin, 2007]. В более общем виде общественный активизм -действия граждан, предпринимаемые для изменений в социуме [Briscoe, Gupta, 2016]. Современные исследователи предметно рассматривают общественный активизм в ракурсе отношений между государством, новым медиаактивизмом и неолиберальными практиками, исходя из представлений, что цифровая среда стимулирует граждан к участию в формальной демократической деятельности [Roberts, 2014]. ...
В статье представлены результаты исследования специфики общественной активности россиян в онлайн- и офлайн-средах. Цель работы — выявление взаимосвязи социальных и политических действий российских граждан в офлайн- и онлайн-пространствах. Методология исследования опирается на сетевой и необихевиористский подходы, а также на концепции социальных движений и политического участия. Эмпирическая основа работы — онлайн-опрос по квотируемой репрезентативной выборке (N = 1600). Автор оценивает интенсивность, масштаб, характер, направленность, факторы и эффекты вовлеченности граждан в общественную активность, а также сегментирует российских граждан по политическим установкам лояльности, оппозиционности и отрешенности.
В целом среди российских граждан выявляются слабая общественная консолидация и низкая интенсивность общественного участия, преобладает разобщенность в готовности к совместным действиям. В общественных установках население проявляет выраженную отстраненность от политической активности и расположенность к социальной активности. Граждане склонны объединяться прежде всего для решения проблем экологии, защиты животных и низкого уровня жизни. Более значимыми мотивами общественной активности, чем материальные стимулы, выступают польза другим людям, нравственный долг, общее дело, самореализация, влияние на власть, общение с людьми и получение нужных навыков. В общественной онлайн-активности преобладают кликтивисткие формы, а офлайн граждане склонны участвовать в действиях по решению возникающих проблем на основании самоорганизации. Пассивное поведение большинства граждан сдерживает конверсию общественной активности из онлайн- в офлайн-пространство.
Выявленные корреляции показывают наличие связи между онлайн- и офлайн-предпочтениями при выборе субъектов взаимодействия для реализации гражданских инициатив. Интенсивность использования цифровых каналов коммуникации для реализации общественной активности связана с частотой участия в действиях офлайн, направленных на решение социальных и политических проблем. Внутренняя установка граждан на реализацию общественных инициатив предопределяет активность использования онлайн коммуникаций для более эффективных действий в офлайн. Значимая корреляция выявлена между социальной и политической активностью граждан. При этом частота подталкивающих к действиям информационных сообщений оказывает слабое влияние на общественную активность граждан.
Благодарность. Статья подготовлена по результатам исследований, выполненных за счет бюджетных средств по государственному заданию Финансового университета.
... These proposals are widely used by shareholders to bring attention to social issues and to show disapproval of current actions (Goranova & Ryan, 2014;McDonnell et al., 2015). As such, firms experience considerable pressure to respond to these proxy proposals, and, on average, increase their CSR activities to avoid future pressures (Briscoe & Gupta, 2016;Vasi & King, 2012). We collected data on shareholder proxy proposals from the Ethvest database. ...
Research Summary
We consider the link between firms' decisions to adopt a CSR executive position and the political ideology of prior adopter CEOs. We theorize that firms are more likely to adopt a CSR executive position when it has been previously adopted by conservative‐leaning CEOs at other firms, as opposed to liberal‐leaning CEOs. This effect is due, we argue, to the increased perceptual salience and situational attributions associated with ideologically incongruent actions (i.e., actions that appear inconsistent with known political values). We further posit that these effects are stronger when the observing firms experience increased salience of CSR issues due to shareholder pressure and institutional equivalence between the referent and the observing firms. We find support for these ideas in a longitudinal sample of Fortune 500 companies.
Managerial Summary
How do CEOs' values affect industry‐wide appointments of senior executives in charge of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Prior research suggests that liberal political beliefs of CEOs predict their CSR commitments. Our study explores how the political beliefs of CEOs—in this case, CEOs who have created a new CSR executive position in their companies—influence the likelihood that peer CEOs will imitate their decisions. Specifically, we find that when conservative CEOs adopt a CSR executive position, other companies are more likely to follow than when liberal‐leaning CEOs do so. These effects are even stronger when companies are experiencing CSR‐related pressure from shareholders and when they belong to the same industry and community as the firms of the CEOs they are observing.
Studies of contentious politics have extensively examined the impacts of protest repression on mobilization, but the implications of repression on economic phenomena have received little attention. This study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of protest repression on business activism. Business activism refers to businesses taking a public stance on controversial social-political issues, a subject that has been understudied in academic research. We examine the effect of protest repression on business activism through the case of the “yellow economy circle” since the 2019 Anti-ELAB Movement in Hong Kong, in which some businesses publicly took a pro-movement stance by labeling themselves as “yellow businesses.” Utilizing a novel dataset containing geographical information about pro-movement “yellow restaurants,” we find that constituencies that experienced tear gas had a higher proportion of yellow restaurants. We provide two explanations for the causal effect, one from the financial-profit perspective and the other from the socio-psychological perspective. The effect of protest repression was more pronounced in constituencies with a higher proportion of pro-movement residents, supporting the financial-profit explanation that protest repression causes business activism when businesses find it profitable to attract political consumers.
Zusammenfassung
Die Verfügbarmachung digitaler Plattformen in Organisationen beeinflusst, wie deren Mitglieder miteinander kommunizieren und sich vernetzen. Entlang eines empirischen Beispiels wird in dem Beitrag gezeigt, dass Kommunikationsplattformen nicht nur genutzt werden, um die Arbeit in der Organisation zu strukturieren, sondern auch, um Unzufriedenheit und Widerspruch zu äußern. Statt Unterstützung von institutionalisierten Interessenvertretungen einzuholen, greifen Organisationsmitglieder auf digitale Plattformen zurück, vernetzen sich über diese informal und gründen alternative Repräsentationsgruppen. Damit wird die Digitalisierung zum Katalysator für Widerspruchskommunikation und für eine Vernetzung jenseits der Formalstruktur. Für Organisationen stellen solche Widerspruchsnetzwerke eine potenzielle Gefahr dar. Sie reagieren daher mit Kooptation, das heißt, sie integrieren die Netzwerke in ihre Formalstruktur, unterstützen sie so bei deren Arbeit und wenden das Problem produktiv für die beteiligten Akteure.
Social movements form coalitions to gain leverage and achieve mutual goals, however little is known about how coalitions work, especially in the realm of social media. In this paper we examine the 2020 #StopHateForProfit coalition which pressured corporations to pull their advertising spending from Facebook because of its permissive content moderation policies toward disinformation and hate. From the digital traces of the campaign on Twitter, we explain the participation differentials among coalition social movement organisations (SMO) partners and their followers. The findings show that the coalition's centrality to movement agenda, the ideological homogeneity of followership, and the SMO partners and their followership's central positions in the communication network led to the highest and most time persistent participation rates. Our counter-intuitive findings extend the literature on social movements coalitions by suggesting that multi-issues, “big tent” movements with ideological breadth may find invoking the core of their large followership rather challenging despite the ease of participation afforded by social media.
Many professionals want to both achieve professional success and contribute to society. Yet, in some professional contexts, these aims are in tension because serving elite clients is considered the pinnacle of professional success, but professionals themselves may view serving this clientele as antithetical to making a societal contribution. Drawing on interviews with 84 architects and designers who self-identify as people seeking to contribute to society—that is, who hold a prosocial identity—we develop theory about how professionals navigate tensions between their prosocial and professional identities and with what consequences for their work with clients. We identified four strategies that professionals used to ease these tensions, all of which gave the prosocially oriented professionals a sense of identity integration. However, these strategies differently shaped professionals’ approach to power relations with the client, depending on the client’s status and the types of knowledge and skills each professional viewed as central to their work. Professionals with marginalized social identities, such as women and ethnic/racial minorities, were more likely than others to embrace working with low-status clients and to use broader definitions of the knowledge and skills required for their work. Our findings contribute to scholarship on professional identity construction and prosocial work.
Social movements have long held noteworthy effects on organizations and industries by deliberately seeking to alter firms’ actions to align with the movements’ values. In the present research, we examine the possibility of non-deliberative effects of social movements on entrepreneurial activities. We posit that social movements elevate values that enhance market conditions and encourage entrepreneurship in unexpected ways. We examine this values-complemetarity process in the context of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement. Although the movement intended to delegitimize large corporations, we find evidence that it also had the complementary effect of increasing small-scale, people-centered, and community-oriented values. As such, this enhanced congruent forms of entrepreneurship. We find consistent effects of Occupy on startup growth across a range of industries. Moreover, using brewing as an illustrative setting, we identify distinctive emergent themes confirming the shift and alignment of microbreweries toward stronger community values after Occupy protests. We discuss implications for the social movement and organization literatures.
E‐petitions have evoked an important debate about the potential for digital activism to pressure firms to change social policies and practices. One prevailing perspective is that slacktivism, a tendency of online supporters to provide only token support, undermines any possible impact. An alternative perspective is that social media dynamics underlying digital activism offer new pathways for social activists to pressure firms toward social change. To explore this debate, we combine insights from research on social movements, social media, and the logic of connective action to theorize the impact of social media mechanisms such as e‐petition connectivity and velocity. With a hand‐coded database of 1587 e‐petitions targeting Fortune 500 firms from 2012 to 2017 through the platform Change.org , we empirically evaluate whether these e‐petitions matter. Our empirical results strongly suggest that e‐petitions do matter, and we explain when digital activism has impact. The activation of social media mechanisms spreads negative information and directly intensifies the threat to the targeted firm's reputation, pressuring firms to concede to e‐petitioner demands. Furthermore, our findings indicate that firm visibility and resource availability can represent boundary conditions for the firm's vulnerability and ability to respond to digital activism.
Firms face mounting pressure to implement organization‐wide CSR initiatives in order to address social issues such as climate change, poverty alleviation, and inequality. Such efforts hinge on the engagement of employees throughout the organization. Yet, involving more employees in CSR, as well as the magnitude of organizational change required to address pressing social issues, are likely to trigger employee‐CSR (E‐CSR) tensions, i.e., tensions between employees' personal preferences for organizational CSR initiatives and their perceptions of the actual organizational CSR initiatives. While prior research on micro‐CSR has identified a range of employee engagement with CSR, it does not explain employees' CSR (dis)engagement when they experience E‐CSR tensions. We draw on the literature on individuals' responses to paradoxical tensions to unpack how and why employees who experience E‐CSR tensions (dis)engage differently with CSR initiatives. We develop a conceptual framework around the interplay of three drivers (type of tension, cognition, and organizational situatedness) to explain the employee response to E‐CSR tensions in terms of different types of (dis)engagement with CSR initiatives. We contribute to the micro‐CSR literature by explaining how and why employees (dis)engage differently with CSR initiatives with which they disagree, and to the microfoundations of paradox by challenging the dominant association between both/and thinking and generative outcomes vs either/or thinking and detrimental outcomes.
The purpose of this paper is to experimentally examine stakeholder punishments in response to poor CSR performance communicated through either internal or external channels. Across two experiments, we find that receiving negative CSR information communicated through internal channels (CSR reports) or external channels (news articles) causes individuals to punish a firm (less investment, lower employment interest, buy less, post negative comments on social media). Furthermore, we find sensitivity to a conflict of information from internal and external channels, which increased Calls to Action on social media. This is a concern for firms because such social media posts can elicit further punishments from stakeholders and inflict reputational costs on the firm. The findings of our studies suggest that firms should accurately report CSR performance, especially if external channels are likely to communicate negative CSR information regarding the firm because such conflicting information can elicit a strong online backlash.
What is activism? The answer is, typically, that it is a form of opposition, often expressed on the streets. Skoglund and Böhm argue differently. They identify forms of 'insider activism' within corporations, state agencies and villages, showing how people seek to transform society by working within the system, rather than outright opposing it. Using extensive empirical data, Skoglund and Böhm analyze the transformation of climate activism in a rapidly changing political landscape, arguing that it is time to think beyond the tensions between activism and enterprise. They trace the everyday renewable energy actions of a growing 'epistemic community' of climate activists who are dispersed across organizational boundaries and domains. This book is testament to a new way of understanding activism as an organizational force that brings about the transition towards sustainability across business and society and is of interest to social science scholars of business, renewable energy and sustainable development.
Over the past 50 years, student activists and community organizers on college campuses have advocated for divestment as a strategy to enact necessary change. These activists and organizers are often tasked to confront the higher education elite, such as trustees, with these demands. Higher education institutions will only continue to face immense pressures to be humane organizations with the public interest at its core. This article reviews the literature on divestment as a social activist strategy and its use in higher education. In addition to the political importance of divestment, reinvestment is emerging as a significant complement to activists’ demands. We advance an argument for how divestment and reinvestment can inform a new paradigm for higher education finance to stimulate future activism.
Research Summary
Whilst existing research generally assumes corporate social responsibility (CSR) is seen as universally positive, firms increasingly adopt practices, and take stands, on highly polarizing social issues (e.g., gun-control, LGBTQ rights, abortion). To better understand this phenomenon, we develop a theory about when firms will emulate, ignore, or oppose each other's CSR efforts, based on attributes of the underlying social issue (its salience and polarization), the level of market competition, and the substantiveness of CSR. Our theory predicts several distinct equilibrium outcomes, including the potential for social counter-positioning, whereby rival firms take advantage of socio-political polarization to horizontally differentiate by taking opposing stances on a polarizing issue. Counterpositioning is more likely when salience is high, but agreement is low, when markets are competitive, and when CSR is largely symbolic.
Managerial Summary
Firms increasingly find themselves drawn, willingly or not, to taking stances on a controversial social issue (e.g., gun rights, abortion), though doing so risks alienating (some) stakeholders. In this paper, we develop a theory of why, when, and how firms should take a stance on a polarizing issue. We argue that firms profit from doing so when (1) the issue is salient, (2) markets are competitive, and (3) the actions are mostly symbolic. We also show that taking a stance on polarizing issues creates opportunities for the firms' competitors to counter their ideological positioning, strengthening weaker rivals in the process. Thus, in competitive markets, taking clear stances on polarizing, salient issues can segment the market, increasing the profits of all firms, and, potentially, intensifying polarization.
Activists and the organizations established to pursue their goals have been influential in shaping public relations theory and practice, including issues management. However, scholars only recently increased efforts to develop a more robust understanding of activist organizations and their communication efforts, including how they can serve as issue managers to incite change at multiple levels. As activist organizations shift a portion of their pursuits away from public policy and into the private sector, this study details how these strategic communicators enact their roles as issue managers within a corporate campaign context. Specifically, this study explores the intersection of activism and issues management, thereby advancing our understanding of issues management from the activist perspective and proposing the issue campaign model, which outlines the process employed by activist organizations to identify, develop, and press their issues toward resolution.
Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) seek to influence corporate responsibility practices by pursuing either collaborative or confrontational approaches toward companies. In doing so, they frequently attempt to influence households’ perceptions of companies and, by extension, their consumption decisions. To what extent NPOs adopting varying approaches toward companies are successful in affecting households’ perceptions and decisions, however, remains underexamined. Furthermore, how NPOs’ choice of approach impacts households’ perception of and donation behavior toward NPOs remains a largely open question. In this contribution, we investigate these issues by means of an experimental approach. The results of our study indicate that both confrontational and collaborative approaches by NPOs exert a significant effect on households’ perceptions of companies and their consumption intentions. Somewhat paradoxically, while confrontational approaches exert stronger effects on households’ perceptions of companies and their consumption behavior, collaborative approaches are viewed as more legitimate by households, thus garnering more support in the form of donations.
This article explores the professional subjectivities of gender-equality (GE) consultants in France based on 63 interviews. A central concern is how these experts shape positions when working on a topic at the crossroads of personal, political, and economic stakes – in organizational and business contexts that are reluctant to embrace any feminist-like perspective. Questioning the rationales for entering this market activity, the ways to embody professional work and service impact self-assessment, the analysis highlights the tensions and dilemmas experienced by GE consultants in terms of aligning convictions and business imperatives, and the pragmatic and variable arrangements they make on a daily basis to put GE principles into practice. This research documents GE work by reanalyzing colliding dyads such as work/activism, professionalism/feminism, co-optation/resistance, and by reviewing the use of market logics in subverting the existing gender/economic order. It draws a nuanced picture of the constraints and opportunities that GE consulting offers to destabilize power from within organizations.
Recent years have seen a substantial rise in instances of employees raising their voices against organizational decisions and making their objections to organizational action public. Public relations nightmares resulting from poorly handled responses to employee activism remind us of the important role played by public relations functions in communicating and negotiating between organizational leaders and internal activists. The present chapter presents a review of the literature on activism and employee activism within public relations scholarship and beyond, followed by industry perspectives on employee activism. A theoretically driven and practically sound definition of employee activism is advanced, followed by recommendations for future research on employee activism and internal communication.
In this article, we draw our attention to the growth of a new social movement, as a non-profit organization which aims to effectively communicate its collective identity and messages to larger audiences. Initially, we provide a critical discussion on the interrelationships between marketing theory/practice and protest groups' promotional tactics. Afterwards, we focus on the interface between visual branding practices and new social movement's strategies to create a visual branding identity around their protest symbols and aims. In order to do so, we adopted a moderate participant observation approach to explore how the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement employed forms of visual branding to engage local and global audiences and induce social change. Drawing on a close examination of field notes and a visual analysis of digital archives and images from the protest sites, we identify and discuss the presence of several visual branding techniques for the imaginative promotion of the movement's demands and causes. Our findings suggest that the 2014 Umbrella Movement protesters coordinated and acted as non-profit organization which employed innovative and creative visual branding methods to enhance the movement's unity and trigger emotional responses from diverse audiences. We conclude the article with suggestions for future research around the interrelationships between social movements' protest symbols, transnational visual branding practices and non-profit organizational practices.
We explore the legalization of the cannabis industry in the US, and point at the conflicted path through which this emerging industry has traversed. In particular, we highlight how this industry has navigated controversy to become one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The paper also offers a theoretical model that explains the role played by social movements to propel and shape early antagonism towards increasing protagonism. Evidence of the latter is seen in the form of cannabis laws passing at the state level in the US. We posit that resource mobilization and shaping effects were instrumental in laying the grounds for legalization. A detailed timeline of the legalization for over one and a half centuries (from 1840 to 2019) is also provided. Our synergistic approach integrates a historical perspective with social movement theory to address a relatively new and under examined phenomenon in the emerging US legal cannabis industry and ensuing ethical implications.
The public and policymakers have increasingly recognized the role that industry plays in contributing to societal issues, such as climate change and childhood obesity. In fact, many people now support punitive action against major corporations. The question then becomes: What beliefs factor into a person’s willingness to take political action against industry actors? I argue that one important predictor may be beliefs about whether the action will be effective at punishing the wrongdoer—a new concept I introduce called retributive efficacy. The goal of this investigation was to assess the psychometric properties of a novel measure of retributive efficacy. Across three studies and two social issues (climate change, childhood obesity), I demonstrate the reliability and validity of a retributive efficacy survey instrument. Specifically, I show that retributive efficacy is associated with (but is distinct from) other types of efficacy. I also provide evidence that retributive efficacy predicts intentions to participate in social issue activism and support for social policies, even when adjusting for the influence of demographics, covariates, and other forms of efficacy.
This study unpacks the environmental and social dimensions of supplier responsibility and links each dimension to distinct drivers. Using stakeholder theory and the relational view, we distinguish between two main drivers: stakeholder pressures (i.e., from regulatory agencies, buying firms, and non-governmental organizations) and relational mechanisms offered by multinational companies (MNCs) (i.e., lean trainings and relational capital). We used a multi-method research design to study how these drivers uniquely influence supplier responsibility in an emerging-country context. An in-depth case study with Philips Lighting and 10 of its Chinese suppliers reveals causal inferences that link stakeholder and relational drivers with each responsibility dimension (environmental vs. social). Audit and survey data from Philips Lighting's 134 Chinese suppliers, complemented with four archival databases, bolster these inferences. Overall, the results show that supplier environmental responsibility can be fostered through both stakeholder pressures and relational drivers; whereas, supplier social responsibility is much harder to address. The integrated methods offer a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of the specifics of supplier responsibility in China and also provide recommendations for MNCs that seek to improve it. K E Y W O R D S buyer-supplier relationship, China, multi-method research design, relational view, stakeholder theory, supplier environmental responsibility, supplier social responsibility
Most scholarship on corporate political activity assumes that market forces wholly motivate firms’ political strategies. However, this conventional wisdom overlooks the role of employee groups in encouraging corporate activism. To evaluate whether employee groups are associated with firm social activism, we gathered all public statements in support of LGBT rights made by the five hundred largest publicly-traded US corporations from 2011 to 2017. In an exploratory observational analysis, we found robust evidence that in highly-educated workforces LGBT employee groups persuade management to take public stances in support of LGBT rights. Our findings suggest that internal pressure promotes activism on LGBT issues, and market, political, or social forces are insufficient to fully explain firm social activism. Although each does play an important role, since employee groups will use political, social, and especially market-based arguments to convince their managers to engage in activism.
This paper examines how advocacy organizations organize engagements to advance corporate social and environmental accountability. We present an in-depth case study examining how an influential Dutch advocacy organization enacted its engagement with companies to promote the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and management practices. Drawing on the construct of strategic framing, we unpack the characteristics that supported the development of a resonant engagement frame that set the boundaries and expectations around the organization’s engagement with companies. We unveil how several internal organizational deficiencies impeded the quality of these engagements, thereby threatening this frame resonance. The paper extends our understanding of the nature and role of strategic framing in the construction of CSR reporting and advances our limited knowledge of how CSR advocacy organizations’ internal operations impact on their engagement efforts. This allows us to better comprehend how these organizations can set engagement agendas and mobilize support for collaborative CSR change initiatives.
This article examines the LGBT Workplace Equality Movement at a global and cross-national level. This movement is a niche sphere of activism within the larger LGBT social movement which focuses on fighting for the equality and inclusion of LGBT employees in the workplace. A global review suggests that no one model for this sphere of activism can be replicated in all parts of the world. Cross-nationally, multiple models of the LGBT workplace equality movement exist on the basis of each location’s unique goals, intersectionality, and movement participation. Globally, this movement has pursued location-specific goals using strategies tailored to each situation. The global character of this movement can be retained by continuing to address the range of unique challenges and issues faced by LGBT employees across the world.
Research has found many positive benefits to person‐organization (PO) fit, for both individuals and the organization. However, PO misfit has received far less attention in the literature. In this article, we look specifically at PO misfit caused by the differing political values and beliefs of the CEO and employee. We argue that CEO activism influences employee perceptions of ideological misfit (IM), whereby differing political beliefs between employees and their activist CEO can impact workplace outcomes. We consider how peer group reactions, ethical climate, external needs fulfillment, and moral identity serve as boundary conditions for perceptions of PO misfit and related organizational outcomes. We also examine antecedents of CEO activism. Drawing on academic literature from both the micro and macro perspectives of management research, we introduce a conceptual model and discuss implications for the firm and its employees.
Social movements can disrupt existing industries and inspire the emergence of new markets by drawing attention to problems with the status quo and promoting alternatives. We examine how the influence of social movements on entrepreneurial activity evolves as the markets they foster mature. Theoretically, we argue that the success of social movements in furthering market expansion leads to three related outcomes. First, the movement-encouraged development of market infrastructure reduces the need for continued social movement support. Second, social movements’ efforts on behalf of new markets increase the importance of resource availability for market entry. Third, market growth motivates countermovements that reduce the beneficial impact of initiator movements on entrepreneurial activity. We test these arguments by analyzing evolving social movement dynamics and entrepreneurial activity in the US wind power industry from 1992 to 2007. We discuss the implications of our findings for the study of social movements, stakeholder management, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.
Research summary: Why do firms vary so much in their stances toward corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Prior research has emphasized the role of external pressures, as well as CEO preferences, while little attention has been paid to the possibility that CSR may also stem from prevailing beliefs among the body politic of the firm. We introduce the concept of organizational political ideology to explain how political beliefs of organizational members shape corporate advances in CSR. Using a novel measure based on the political contributions by employees of Fortune 500 firms, we find that ideology predicts advances in CSR. This effect appears stronger when CSR is rare in the firm's industry, when firms are high in human capital intensity, and when the CEO has had long organizational tenure. Managerial summary: Why do firms vary in their stances toward corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Prior research suggests that companies engage in CSR when under pressure to do so, or when their CEOs have liberal values. We introduce the concept of organizational political ideology, and argue that CSR may also result from the values of the larger employee population. Introducing a novel measure of organizational political ideology, based on employees' donations to the two major political parties in the United States, we find that liberal-leaning companies engage in more CSR than conservative-leaning companies, and even more so when other firms in the industry have weaker CSR records, when the company relies heavily on human resources and when the company's CEO has a long organizational tenure.
A qualitative shift is underway in the nature of labor protest in China. Contrary to prior literature that characterized strikes as being largely defensive in nature, the authors suggest that since 2008, Chinese workers have been striking offensively for more money, better working conditions, and more respect from employers. They explain these developments using a "political process" model that suggests economic and political opportunities are sending "cognitive cues" to workers that they have increased leverage, leading them to be more assertive in their demands. Such cues include a growing labor shortage, new labor laws, and new media openness. Their argument is supported by a unique data set of strikes that the authors collected, two case studies of strikes in aerospace factories, and interviews with a variety of employment relations stakeholders.
We review the literature that identifies selection bias in media-based data and propose a theoretical model of the sources of these biases. Given the implications for validity and reliability, we conclude that newspaper data often do not reach acceptable standards for event analysis and that using them can distort findings and misguide theorizing. Furthermore, media selection biases are resistant to correction procedures largely because they are unstable across media sources, time, and location. We end with a plea for more circumspect approaches to media data that fully and openly consider the implications of their inherent limitations.
We explore how activists' public and private politics elicit different organizational responses. Using data on U.S. petroleum companies from 1982 to 2010, we investigate how climate change activists serving as witnesses at congressional hearings and engaging in firm protests influenced firms' internal and external responses. We find that public politics induced internally focused practice adoption, whereas private politics induced externally focused framing activities. We also find that private and public politics had an interaction effect: as firms faced more private political pressure, they were less likely to respond to public political pressures; similarly, as firms faced greater public political pressure, they were less likely to respond to private political pressures. The results suggest that activists can have a significant impact on firm behavior depending on the mix of private and public political tactics they engage in. We discuss the implications of our study for social movement research, organization theory, and nonmarket strategy.
Recent scholarship highlights the importance of public discourse for the mobilization and impact of social movements, but it neglects how cultural products may shift discourse and thereby influence mobilization and political outcomes. This study investigates how activism against hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) utilized cultural artifacts to influence public perceptions and effect change. A systematic analysis of Internet search data, social media postings, and newspaper articles allows us to identify how the documentary Gasland reshaped public discourse. We find that Gasland contributed not only to greater online searching about fracking, but also to increased social media chatter and heightened mass media coverage. Local screenings of Gasland contributed to anti-fracking mobilizations, which, in turn, affected the passage of local fracking moratoria in the Marcellus Shale states. These results have implications not only for understanding movement outcomes, but also for theory and research on media, the environment, and energy.
Social enterprise has gained widespread acclaim as a tool for addressing social and environmental problems. Yet, because these organizations integrate the social welfare and commercial logics, they face the challenge of pursuing goals that frequently conflict with each other. Studies have begun to address how established social enterprises can manage these tensions, but we know little about how, why, and with what consequences social entrepreneurs mix competing logics as they create new organizations. To address this gap, we develop a theoretical model based in identity theory that helps to explain: (1) how the commercial and social welfare logics become relevant to entrepreneurship, (2) how different types of entrepreneurs perceive the tension between these logics, and (3) the implications this has for how entrepreneurs go about recognizing and developing social enterprise opportunities. Our approach responds to calls from organizational and entrepreneurship scholars to extend existing frameworks of opportunity recognition and development to better account for social enterprise creation.
In some measure, much of the social change we have witnessed in America and elsewhere during the last several decades can be attributed to social movements, large and small. The civil rights movement (CRM), the environmental movement, the women’s movement, and the gay rights movement are among the larger and more visible motors of social change. Other, less visible, movements also have promoted significant changes in social policy, raised our consciousness about issues and problems, and even altered our behavior in everyday life, at home, with friends, and at work. The anti– drunk driving movement, the coalition of groups opposed to smoking, the movement for pay equity reform, and the animal rights movement may not have loomed as large on the political landscape as other movements, but they have significantly contributed to changes in the way we live. Movements that developed as spin-offs or amalgams of larger movements also have led to social change. Consider, as examples, the environmental justice movement, which emerged as an outgrowth of the environmental and civil rights movements, or the movement for pay equity reform, which grew out of the interplay among the CRM, the women’s movement, and the more progressive streams of the labor movement. Of course, social movements are themselves created out of broad social processes and social forces, and are accompanied by diffuse political and social processes that contribute to social change. Nevertheless, it is useful to ask how and where social movements contribute to social change.
This article explores when and why firms participate in overt corporate-sponsored social activism. To shed light on this question, I empirically explore the emergence and implications of a new strategic phenomenon in non-market strategy – the corporate-sponsored boycott – in which firms voluntarily cooperate with contentious social movement organizations to sponsor boycotts that protest the contested social practices of other companies or entities at higher orders of market organization, such as industries, transnational regulators, or states. Using a longitudinal database that tracks the social movement challenges faced by 300 large companies between 1993 and 2007, I provide evidence that overt corporate-sponsored activism is used by companies that are chronically targeted and losing ground to activists, especially when those companies are facing a reputational deficit. Further, I find that participation in overt corporate-sponsored activism is associated with significant decreases in the number of activist challenges targeting a firm in the future, suggesting that the tactic may effectively defend a firm from contentious threat by allowing firms to co-opt allies within the activist population. I discuss implications of these findings for social movement research, non-market strategy, and the study of corporate social responsibility.
The premise of this volume is that both organizations and social movements are forms of coordinated collective action and, therefore, ought to be conducive to similar forms of analysis (Perrow 2000: 472–4; Zald and Berger 1978). Furthermore, the editors and contributors suspect that if students of organizations and social movements paid closer attention to each other’s work, then opportunities for creative conceptual and theoretical cross-fertilization might occur, and our understanding of both organizations and movements might improve. To date, researchers in these fields have made limited progress in this direction.
We extend research on the diffusion of corporate practices by providing a framework for studying practice variation during diffusion processes. Specifically, we theorize about how population-level mechanisms of diffusion link with organization-level mechanisms of implementation that lead to the adaptation of practices. We also identify technical, cultural, and political elements of fit (or misfit) between diffusing practices and adopters and analyze how the process of attaining fit across these elements can trigger different patterns of adaptation.
Calls for reintroducing agency, politics and contestation into institutional analysis are now legion, spanning nearly two decades since DiMaggio’s (1988) classic piece, and gaining new urgency as scholars struggle to explain institutional emergence and change. Institutionalists face persistent difficulties in these tasks. Working from arguments about isomorphism, diffusion, or path dependence, they often invoke ad hoc explanations like exogenous shocks in order to reconcile change and path creation with theories that stress the contextual sources of stability, continuity and conformity (Greenwood and Hinings 1996; Clemens and Cook 1999; Campbell 2004; Streeck and Thelen 2005; Schneiberg 2005; Guillén, 2006). To address these difficulties, institutionalists have begun to revise both their conceptions of fields and their views of action. From a structural standpoint, some scholars increasingly view fields as comprised of multiple logics, or by indeterminacy, ambiguities or contradictions, opening theoretical spaces for action (Scott et al. 2000; Stryker 2000; Seo and Creed 2002; Schneiberg 2007; Lounsbury 2007; Marquis & Lounsbury forthcoming). Focusing more on agency, other scholars have brought new attention to actors and what they do, producing studies of “institutional entrepreneurs” (Beckert 1999; Hwang and Powell 2005; Hardy and McGuire, this volume) and institutional work (Lawrence and Suddaby 2006). Within this milieu, scholars have also sought to overcome “excessive institutional determinism” by turning to social movement theory and the study of collective mobilization.
Spanning sociology and political science, social movement theory has produced a wealth of concepts and research on change, including studies of students organizing to register black voters in the 1960s (McAdam1988), the mobilization of farmers, workers and women to make claims on the state (Clemens 1997), shareholder activism to contest managerial control over corporations (Davis and Thompson 1994), the growth of identity movements pursuing peace, gay/lesbian rights and environmentalism (e.g., Laraña, Johnston and Gusfield 1994), and the rise of transnational pressure groups (Keck and Sikkink 1998). What these studies share is an interest in contestation and collective mobilization processes—how groups coalesce to make claims for or against certain practices or actors in order to create or resist new institutional arrangements or transform existing ones. They also share an interest in tracing how contestation and collective action rest on the capacity of groups to mobilize resources and recruit members, their ability to engage in cultural entrepreneurship or frame issues to increase acceptance of their claims, and the political opportunity structures that constrain or enable mobilization (McAdam, McCarthy and Zald 1996). This chapter focuses on how engaging collective mobilization and social movement theory has inspired new work in institutional analysis.
The integration of movements into institutional analysis has begun to revise existing imageries of institutional processes, actors, and the structure of fields, generating new leverage for explaining change and path creation. Regarding processes, it adds contestation, collective action, framing and self-conscious mobilization for alternatives to conceptual repertoires of legitimation, diffusion, isomorphism and self-reproducing taken-for-granted practices (Jepperson 1991; Colyvas and Powell 2006). Regarding actors, it counter-poses challengers and champions of alternatives to standard accounts of states, professions and other incumbents as key players. Regarding structure, it moves away from images of an isomorphic institutional world of diffusion, path dependence and conformity toward conceptions of fields as sites of contestation, organized around multiple and competing logics and forms (Kraatz and Block, this volume).
The study of culture is on the rise; still, this popularity comes with the cost of increasing fragmentation, as definitions and conceptualizations proliferate. The objectives of this review are twofold: first, we set out to disentangle the multiple conceptual strands used to describe culture, and second, we examine how culture relates to other key constructs, particularly identity, institutions, and practices. To start, we build from extant work in sociology to identify and discuss five prominent ways in which culture has been theorized in the management literature—values, stories, frames, toolkits, and categories—and we organize these into a framework that hinges on values and toolkits as anchors. Second, we examine the relationship between culture and theorizations of identity, institutions, and practices in organization studies. We focus on these three dimensions because their vicinity with culture often leads to conceptual slippage, as debates in the extant literature document. Finally, we identify some avenues for further research and propose that culture should remain a “code of many colors” that envelops different theoretical perspectives.
This article explores how organizations balance the pressures to pursue efficiency through standardization with the need to remain responsive to local needs. The study combines rich ethnography with detailed loan data to show that both standardization and flexibility through relational ties provide substantial organizational benefits but also carry significant costs; thus, no strategy is inherently superior, and their coexistence generates the best results. Such coexistence, however, creates contradictions that must be managed. Here, I use microfinance as a strategic setting and gain analytic leverage from the random assignment across branches of loan officers who exhibit significant heterogeneity in rule enforcement styles: some enforce rules strictly, whereas others frequently bend them to respond to client needs. I find that loan officers with relational styles exercise discretion productively to enhance organizational performance. Yet their effectiveness is contingent on the presence of rule-enforcing peers, as evidenced by the significant underperformance of branches with a high concentration of officers of either type. In contrast, branches that contain discretionary diversity, or a balance between enforcement styles, perform best. This is not due to diversity per se, but because loan officers process decisions in local credit committees. Committees that contain discretionary diversity generate a productive tension that induces participants to justify decisions along broader organizational goals, thus maintaining a productive balance between standardization and flexibility. Implications for organizational theory and practice are discussed.
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.
This chapter draws on the case of the movement against child sexual abuse to examine how the reconstruction and expression of oppositional emotions play out in various contexts. Internal movement processes interact with external institutions, the state, and other social movements to shape emotional displays and their ramifications both within movement contexts and within external settings of media, the state, and medical institutions. Emotional displays that emerge in different contexts are shaped by three factors: the oppositional emotions activists construct in internal movement organizations; emotional labor in the public display of emotion; and the emotional opportunities afforded by the external context.
Despite the tremendous amount of attention that has been paid to the internet as a tool for civic engagement, we still have little idea how "active" is the average online activist or how social networks matter in facilitating electronic protest. In this paper, we use complete records on the donation and recruitment activity of 1.2 million members of the Save Darfur "Cause" on Facebook to provide a detailed first look at a massive online social movement. While both donation and recruitment behavior are socially patterned, the vast majority of Cause members recruited no one else into the Cause and contributed no money to it - suggesting that in the case of the Save Darfur campaign, Facebook conjured an illusion of activism rather than facilitating the real thing.
This paper explores whether and how social activists’ challenges affect politicians’ willingness to associate with targeted firms. We study the effect of public protest on corporate political activity using a unique database that allows us to analyze empirically the impact of social movement boycotts on three proxies for associations with political stakeholders: the proportion of campaign contributions that are rejected, the number of times a firm is invited to give testimony in congressional hearings, and the number of government procurement contracts awarded to a firm. We show that boycotts lead to significant increases in the proportion of refunded contributions, as well as decreases in invited congressional appearances and awarded government contracts. These results highlight the importance of considering how a firm’s sociopolitical environment shapes the receptivity of critical non-market stakeholders. We supplement this analysis by drawing from social movement theory to extrapolate and test three key mechanisms that moderate the extent to which activists’ challenges effectively disrupt corporate political activity: the media attention a boycott attracts, the political salience of the contested issue, and the status of the targeted firm.
We examine whether organizations vicariously learn from near-failures and failures of others. We propose that the impact of such failure-related experience depends on the geographic market and industry origin of the experience. Our findings indicate that the local failure-related experience of both banks and thrifts have higher survival-enhancing learning value for banks than nonlocal experience, supporting the value of accessibility and applicability for useful learning. Bank near-failure experience had more value than bank failure experience, but thrift failure and near-failure experience had equivalent impact, suggesting that the learning impact of types of failure-related experience varies with its industry origin.
This paper introduces the subject of private politics, presents a research agenda, and provides an example involving activists and a firm. Private politics addresses situations of conflict and their resolution without reliance on the law or government. It encompasses the political competition over entitlements in the status quo, the direct competition for support from the public, bargaining over the resolution of the conflict, and the maintenance of the agreed-to private ordering. The term private means that the parties do not rely on public order, i.e., lawmaking or the courts. The term politics refers to individual and collective action in situations in which people attempt to further their interests by imposing their will on others. Four models of private politics are discussed: (1) informational competition between an activist and a firm for support from the public, (2) decisions by citizen consumers regarding a boycott, (3) bargaining to resolve the boycott, and (4) the choice of an equilibrium private ordering to govern the ongoing conflicting interests of the activist and the firm.
Social movement scholars have demonstrated that political opportunities influence the emergence and dynamics of social movements (e. g., Costain 1992; Kriesi et al. 1995; McAdam 1982; Meyer 1990; Tarrow 1989). Groups are more likely to mobilize when the institutionalized political system is open to them. Doug McAdam (1996) and Sidney Tarrow (1996) describe a number of dimensions of the political opportunity system that may influence mobilization, including the stability or instability of elite alignments and the presence or absence of elite allies. Although elites are central to political opportunity theory, we do not know which elites may influence mobilization. In this essay, I examine the effect of elites in different branches and levels of government on student protest mobilization from 1930 to 1990. Using Democratic Party officials in office as a proxy for left-wing allies, I examine the impact of Democrats (and Republicans) in the executive and legislative branches of the federal and state governments on student mobilization. I conduct an event history analysis of 2,496 protest events to examine the relationship between different governmental positions, parties, and protest. I suggest that elite allies in some locations may inspire increased protest activity, as suggested by political opportunity theory, but that powerful elites sometimes serve as antagonists that inspire mobilization by threatening the goals of a movement. Political Opportunity Theory Scholars studying a variety of social movements demonstrate that political opportunity structure influences mobilization. © Cambridge University Press 2003 and Cambridge University Press, 2010
Strategy and entrepreneurship scholars have long been interested in factors that affect new market emergence and firm entry. However, existing literature provides few insights into the factors that influence the types of organizations that enter markets promoted and opposed by social activists. Using the emergent U.S. biodiesel market, we examine how the efforts of new-market proponents (farmer associations) and new-market opponents (environmental groups) differentially influence market entry among new ventures and diversifying firms. Our results indicate that activist tactics to promote new markets had a greater impact on foundings of new ventures, but that tactics by opponents to challenge new markets had a greater impact on suppressing foundings of diversifying entrants. The findings contribute to the literature on institutions and entrepreneurship, nonmarket strategy, and industry emergence.
Using data compiled from a variety of different sources, we seek to answer questions about the emergence and outcomes of women's collective action in the United States between 1956 and 1979. In particular, we examine hypotheses derived from political opportunity and resource mobilization theories about the emergence of women's protest. We also examine the consequence of women's collective action on congressional hearings and House and Senate roll call votes on women's issues. We find support for arguments about the effects of resources on the emergence of protest. We also find mixed support for arguments about the effects of political opportunity on the emergence of protest. Finally, we find little support for arguments about the effects of women's collective action on congressional hearings and House and Senate roll call votes on women's issues.
This book examines anti-corporate activism in the United States, including analysis of anti-corporate challenges associated with social movements as diverse as the Civil Rights Movement and the Dolphin-Safe Tuna Movement. Using a unique dataset of protest events in the United States, the book shows that anti-corporate activism is primarily about corporate policies, products, and negligence. Although activists have always been distrustful of corporations and sought to change them, until the 1970s and 1980s, this was primarily accomplished via seeking government regulation of corporations or via organized labor. Sarah A. Soule traces the shift brought about by deregulation and the decline in organized labor, which prompted activists to target corporations directly, often in combination with targeting the state. Using the literatures on contentious and private politics, which are both essential for understanding anti-corporate activism, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the changing focal points of activism directed at corporations.
Although ‘grassroots’ conjures up images of independent citizen organizing, much mass participation today is sponsored by elite consultants working for corporations and powerful interest groups. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical ‘astroturf’ strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.
In the decades following World War II, American scientists were celebrated for their contributions to social and technological progress. They were also widely criticized for their increasingly close ties to military and governmental power--not only by outside activists but from among the ranks of scientists themselves.Disrupting Sciencetells the story of how scientists formed new protest organizations that democratized science and made its pursuit more transparent. The book explores how scientists weakened their own authority even as they invented new forms of political action. Drawing extensively from archival sources and in-depth interviews, Kelly Moore examines the features of American science that made it an attractive target for protesters in the early cold war and Vietnam eras, including scientists' work in military research and activities perceived as environmentally harmful. She describes the intellectual traditions that protesters drew from--liberalism, moral individualism, and the New Left--and traces the rise and influence of scientist-led protest organizations such as Science for the People and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Moore shows how scientist protest activities disrupted basic assumptions about science and the ways scientific knowledge should be produced, and recast scientists' relationships to political and military institutions. Disrupting Sciencereveals how the scientific community cumulatively worked to unbind its own scientific authority and change how science and scientists are perceived. In doing so, the book redefines our understanding of social movements and the power of insider-led protest.
This paper provides a theory of private politics in which an activist seeks to change the production practices of a firm for the purpose of redistribution to those whose interests it supports. The source of the activists's influence is the possibility of support for its cause by the public. The paper also addresses the issue of corporate social responsibility by distinguishing among corporate redistribution as motivated by profit maximization, altruism, and threats by the activist. Private politics and corporate social responsibility not only have a direct effect on the costs of the firm, but also have a strategic effect by altering the competitive positions of firms in an industry. From an integrated-strategy perspective the paper investigates the strategic implications of private politics and corporate social responsibility for the strategies of rival firms when one or both are targets of an activist campaign. Implications for empirical analysis are derived from the theory.
This book integrates and assesses the vast and rapidly growing literature on strategic leadership, which is the study of top executives and their effects on organizations. The basic premise is that, in order to understand why organizations do the things they do, or perform the way they do, we need to comprehend deeply the people at the top-their experiences, abilities, values, social connections, aspirations, and other human features. The actions-or inactions-of a relatively small number of key people at the apex of an organization can dramatically affect organizational outcomes. The scope of strategic leadership includes individual executives, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), groups of executives (top management teams, or TMTs), and governing bodies (particularly boards of directors). Accordingly, the book addresses an array of topics regarding CEOs (e.g., values, personality, motives, demography, succession, and compensation); TMTs (including composition, processes, and dynamics); and boards of directors (why boards look and behave the way they do, and the consequences of board profiles and behaviors). The book synthesizes what is known about strategic leadership and indicates new research directions.
How do social movements promote diversity and alternative organizational forms? We address this question by analyzing how cooperative enterprise was affected by the Grange - a leading anticorporate movement in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. State-level analyses across three industries yield three findings. First, the Grange had positive effects on cooperatives and mutuals during the nineteenth-century populist struggles over corporate capitalism. Second, these effects were stronger where corporations counter-mobilized to block challengers' political efforts. Grangers pursued economic organization as an alternative to politics and in response to blocked political access. Third, the Grange continued to foster cooperatives even as populist revolts waned. It did so, however, by buffering cooperatives from problems of group heterogeneity and population change, rendering them less dependent on supportive communities and specific economic conditions. These findings advance research at the movements/organizations interface by documenting movement effects and by isolating different causal pathways through which mobilization, counter-mobilization, and political opportunity shape economic organization. The results also provide economic sociology with new evidence on how social structure moderates economic forces, and help revise institutional analyses of American capitalism by showing how cooperatives emerged as significant, rather than aberrant, elements of the U.S. economy.
Research summary (123 words): We examine the variety of activist groups and their tactics in demanding firms’ social change. While extant work does not usually distinguish among activist types or their variety of tactics, we show that different activists (e.g., social movement organizations versus religious groups and activist investors) rely on dissimilar tactics (e.g., boycotts and protests versus lawsuits and proxy votes). Further, we show how protests and boycotts drag companies “through the mud” with media attention, whereas lawsuits and proxy votes receive relatively little media attention yet may foster investor risk perceptions. This research presents a multifaceted view of activists and their tactics and suggests that this approach in examining activists and their tactics can extend what we know about how and why firms are targeted.Managerial summary (71 words): The purpose of this study was to examine how different types of activist groups behave differently when targeting firms for social change. We find that traditional activist groups rely on boycotts and protests, whereas religious groups and activist investors rely more on lawsuits and proxy votes. Additionally, we find that protests and boycotts are associated with greater media attention, whereas lawsuits and proxy votes are associated with investor perceptions of risk.
Research about the effects of an organization's general reputation following a negative event remains equivocal: Some studies have found that high reputation is a benefit because of the stock of social capital and goodwill it generates; others have found it to be a burden because of the greater stakeholder attention and violation of expectations associated with a negative event.We theorize that stakeholders' level of organizational identification helps explain which mechanisms are more dominant. We test our hypotheses on a sample of legislative references associated with National Collegiate Athletic Association major infractions from 1999-2009. Our results indicate that high reputation is a burden for an organization when considering low-identification stakeholder support: As the number of legislative references increases, a high-reputation university will receive fewer donations from non-alumni donors compared to universities without this asset. In contrast, high reputation is a benefit when considering high-identification stakeholder support: As the number of legislative references increases, a high-reputation university will receive more donations from alumni donors compared to universities without this asset. However, an exploratory investigation reveals that alumni donations to high-reputation universities decline as the number of legislative references increases, suggesting that the benefit of a high reputation has a limit.
Organizing collective action to secure support from local communities provides a source of power for elites to protect their interests, but community structures constrain the ability of elites to use this power. Elites’ power is not static or self-perpetuating but changing and dynamic. There are situations in which elites are forced into movementlike struggles to mobilize support from their community. The success of elites’ mobilization is affected by cultural and structural factors that shape the collective meaning of supporting elites’ actions and the identities that are formed in doing so. I find broad support for these propositions in a study of the issuances of small-denomination currency substitutes in 145 U.S. cities during the Panic of 1907. I discuss the contributions of this article to elite studies, the social movement literature, and the sociology of money.
Although the fields of organization theory and social movement theory have long been viewed as belonging to different worlds, recent events have intervened, reminding us that organizations are becoming more movement-like - more volatile and politicized - while movements are more likely to borrow strategies from organizations. Organization theory and social movement theory are two of the most vibrant areas within the social sciences. This collection of original essays and studies both calls for a closer connection between these fields and demonstrates the value of this interchange. Three introductory, programmatic essays by leading scholars in the two fields are followed by eight empirical studies that directly illustrate the benefits of this type of cross-pollination. The studies variously examine the processes by which movements become organized and the role of movement processes within and among organizations. The topics covered range from globalization and transnational social movement organizations to community recycling programs.
Understanding and predicting behavior in organizations requires a consideration of person and situation factors, and how these factors interact. This paper develops and longitudinally tests a model of person-organization fit (POF). POF is defined, and antecedents (selection and socialization) and consequences (commitment, performance, and tenure) are examined.
The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements is a compilation of original, state-of-the-art essays by internationally recognized scholars on an array of topics in the field of social movement studies. Contains original, state-of-the-art essays by internationally recognized scholars. Covers a wide array of topics in the field of social movement studies. Features a valuable introduction by the editors which maps the field, and helps situate the study of social movements within other disciplines. Includes coverage of historical, political, and cultural contexts; leadership; organizational dynamics; social networks and participation; consequences and outcomes; and case studies of major social movements. Offers the most comprehensive discussion of social movements available.
Analysts have shown increased interest in how social movements use tactical repertoires strategically. While the state is most often the guarantor of new benefits, many movements-from labor to the environmental movement-target corporate, educational, and other institutions. Employing a unique data set of protests reported in the New York Times (1960-90), this research examines how repertoires are, in part, contingent on the institutional target a movement selects. In particular, the authors consider the role of each target's vulnerabilities and its capacities for response-repression, facilitation, and routinization-as explanations for the degree of transgressive protest each target faces. The results provide strong evidence for considering targets as a central factor in shaping forms of social protest.
Corporate greenwashing has accelerated in recent years, bringing in its wake growing skepticism about corporate green claims. Although a theory of the drivers and deterrents of greenwashing has begun to emerge, it is static in nature and does not incorporate the full range of ways in which firms can misrepresent their environmental performance. Our contribution is threefold. First, we extend the theory of organizational information disclosure to incorporate the possibility of undue modesty about a firm's environmental, social, and governance practices. Second, we hypothesize about the drivers of exaggeration and undue modesty based on which of a firm's stakeholders are salient at a given point in time; to do so, we place the firm within a dynamic context that has largely been missing in the prior literature. Third, we test our hypotheses using a data set that allows us to directly compare corporate green claims against actual performance. Results reveal that corporate output growth, deregulation, and low profits under deregulation significantly affect the choice between greenwashing and brownwashing. The effects of growth and profits are mitigated by external scrutiny.
IntroductionThe General Framework of the Political Process ApproachSelected ResultsConclusion
In an effort to comprehend activism toward corporations, scholars have proposed the concept of corporate opportunity structure, or the attributes of individual firms that make them more (or less) attractive as activist targets. We theorize that the personal values of the firm's elite decision makers constitute a key element of this corporate opportunity structure. We specifically consider the political ideology conservatism versus liberalism of the company's CEO as a signal for employees who are considering the merits of engaging in activism. To test of our theory, we examine the formation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employee groups in major companies in the period 1985-2004, when the formation of such roups was generally perceived to be risky for participants. Using CEOs' records of political donations to measure their personal ideologies, we find strong evidence that the political liberalism of CEOs influences the likelihood of activism. We also find that CEOs' ideologies influence activism more strongly when CEOs are more powerful, when they oversee more conservative (i.e., less liberal) workplaces, and when the social movement is in the early phase of development. We identify theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research opportunities.
In this introduction to the special issue ‘Changing work, labour and employment relations in China’, we argue that China is taking an experimental and decentralized approach to the development of new labor relations frameworks. Particular political constraints in China prevent interest aggregation among workers, as the central state sees this as posing a risk to social stability. Firms and local governments have been given a degree of space to experiment with different arrangements, as long as the categorical ban on independent unions is not violated. The consequence has been an increasingly differentiated labor relations landscape, with significant variation by region and sector. We note some countervailing tendencies towards re-centralization, but emphasize that this phenomenon remains largely confined to the municipal level. The five articles in this special issue address different aspects of both experimentation and decentralization in labor relations.
Although risk assessments are critical inputs to economic and organizational decision-making, we lack a good understanding of the social and political causes of shifts in risk perceptions and the consequences of those changes. This article uses social movement theory to explain the effect of environmental activism on corporations' perceived environmental risk and actual financial performance. We define environmental risk as audiences' perceptions that a firm's practices or policies will lead to greater potential for an environmental failure or crisis that would expose it to financial decline. Using data on environmental activism targeting U.S. firms between 2004 and 2008, we examine variation in the effectiveness of secondary and primary stakeholder activism in shaping perceptions about environmental risk. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that primary stakeholder activism against a firm affects its perceived environmental risk, which subsequently has a negative effect on the firm's financial performance.
In this study of the impact of protests against Walmart (a first entrant) on Target (a second entrant) from 1998 to 2008 in U.S. geographic markets, we develop and test a theory of information spillovers from protests against corporations proposing to enter a new market. We argue that the number of protests directed against a first entrant is a noisy signal for the second entrant because such protests are likely to be dominated by protest-prone activists and so do not reflect the sentiments of the community. The second entrant is likely to discount protests against the first entrant that are led by protest-prone activists and rely instead on protests led by local, decentralized activists as indicative of a community's preferences. We argue that the second entrant differentiates between protests against the first-entrant firm and the organizational form, and discounts protests against a specific firm but not those against the form (e.g., big-box stores). Further, the second entrant is likely to rely on the reaction of the first entrant as an indication of the meaning of the protest. Finally, all of these signaling effects will be stronger in markets in which the second entrant has no experience and so lacks local knowledge. The study provides broad support for our arguments.
As social movements co-evolve with changes in states and markets, it is crucial to examine how they make particular kinds of actors into focal points for the expression of grievances and the demand for rights. But researchers often bracket the question of why some kinds of organizations are more likely than others to become targets of social movement pressure. We theorize the social production of targets by social movements, rejecting a simple reflection model to focus on configurations of power and vulnerability that shape repertoires of contention. Empirically, we extend structural accounts of global commodity chains and cultural accounts of markets to analyze the production of targets in the case of the anti-sweatshop movement of the 1990s. Using a longitudinal, firm-level dataset and unique data on anti-sweatshop activism, we identify factors that attracted social movement pressure to particular companies. Firms' power and positions strongly shaped their likelihood of becoming targets of anti-sweatshop activism. But the likelihood of being a target also depended on the cultural organization of markets, which made some firms more shamable than others. Contrary to suggestions of an anti-globalization backlash, globalization on its own, and related predictions about protectionism, cannot explain the pattern of activism.
Addressing the spread of cooperatives in the early 20th-century US economy, this study analyzes the role of anti-corporate movements in the diffusion of politically contested organizational innovations. It finds that institutional change can rest fundamentally on the combination of standard diffusion processes and collective mobilization in support of new practices. Specifically, it finds that the Grange, a leading anti-corporate social movement, was a political condition for the diffusion of cooperative alternatives to corporations in American capitalism. Cooperatives evoked fierce opposition by corporate forces, suppressing the diffusion of cooperative forms. When the Grange was weak or absent, cooperative organization in states or sectors had weak or no effects on cooperative organization in other states or sectors. But when the Grange was present and increased in strength, it amplified and even made possible the diffusion of cooperatives across states and industries. These findings shed new light on the contentious transactions between movements, corporations, and non-governmental organizations, expanding existing work on the trajectories, tactics, and organizational effects of anti-corporate movements.