Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T21:16:31.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Measuring Corporate Political Responsibility

from Section I - Foundations of Corporate Political Responsibility: Metrics for Disclosure and Good Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2023

Thomas P. Lyon
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, we examine the measurement issues that currently plague analysis of corporate political activity and that must be remedied for CPR to be credible, with a focus on the federal level. We begin with issues of electoral spending before turning to spending on lobbying. In each case, we survey the laws mandating disclosure of these activities, along with what some firms and third parties are doing to shed light on activities that fall outside these reporting requirements. We then discuss the questions that can be answered with existing data, and the important questions that are impossible to answer due to data gaps. Finally, we discuss changes to current laws, and to norms of corporate behavior, that could increase transparency and accountability around corporate political activity.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bertrand, M., Matilde, B., Raymond, F., & Francesco, T. (2014). Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process. American Economic Review, 104(12), 3885–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertrand, M., Matilde, B., Raymond, F., & Francesco, T. (2020). Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence. American Economic Review, 110(7), 2065–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Center for Political Accountability. (2021). CPA-Zicklin Index; Raw Data. 2011–2020. www.politicalaccountability.net/cpa-zicklin-index/past-cpa-zicklin-index-reports/. Accessed February 12.Google Scholar
Delmas, M., Jinghui, L., & Nairn-Birch, N. (2016). Corporate Environmental Performance and Lobbying. Academy of Management Discoveries, 2(2), 175–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delmas, M., & Lyon, T. (2018). When Corporations Take Credit for Green Deeds Their Lobbying May Tell Another Story. The Conversation, July 17. https://theconversation.com/when-corporations-take-credit-for-green-deeds-their-lobbying-may-tell-another-story-98988.Google Scholar
Drutman, L. (2015). How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy. The Atlantic, April 20.Google Scholar
Drutman, L., & Mahoney, C. (2017). On the Advantages of a Well-Constructed Lobbying System: Toward a More Democratic, Modern Lobbying Process. Interest Groups & Advocacy, 6(3), 290310.Google Scholar
Espinosa, M. (2021). Labor Boundaries and Skills: The Case of Lobbyists. Management Science, 67(3), 15861607.Google Scholar
Federal Election Commission. (2021). Receipts. www.fec.gov/data/receipts/.Google Scholar
Freed, B., Laufer, W., & Sandstrom, K. (2023). Targeting Private Sector Influence in Politics: Corporate Accountability as a Risk and Governance Problem. In Lyon, T., ed., Corporate Political Responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Global Reporting Initiative. (2016). GRI 415. Public Policy.Google Scholar
Hodgson, S., & Witte, D. (2020). Responsible Lobbying: An Evaluation Framework. Carnstone Partners, Ltd.Google Scholar
Katz, A. (2015). The Influence Machine: The US Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life. New York, NY: Random House.Google Scholar
Ketu, Y., & Rothstein, S. (2023). Measuring Climate Policy Alignment: A Study of the S&P 100. In Lyon, T., ed., Corporate Political Responsibility. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Minefee, I., McDonnell, MH., & Werner, T. (2021). Reexamining Investor Reaction to Covert Corporate Political Activity: A Replication and Extension of Werner (2017). Strategic Management Journal, 42(6), 1139–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OpenSecrets. (2020). Lobbying Tables. www.opensecrets.org/bulk-data/downloads.Google Scholar
Senate Office of Public Records. (2020). Lobbying Disclosure Act Databases. 1998–2020. www.senate.gov/legislative/Public_Disclosure/LDA_reports.htm.Google Scholar
Thomas, H., & LaPira, T. (2017). How Many Lobbyists Are in Washington? Shadow Lobbying and the Gray Market for Policy Advocacy. Interest Groups & Advocacy, 6(3), 199214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigeo, Eiris. ESG Super Premium_Historic_2019_09_EUR_NAM_2011.xlsx.Google Scholar
Vigeo, Eiris. The Equitics© Methodology. Guide to the Domains and Criteria of the Equitics Generic Model.Google Scholar
Walker, E. (2023). What Drives Firms to Disclose Their Political Activity. In Lyon, T., ed., Corporate Political Responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Werner, T. (2017). Investor Reaction to Covert Corporate Political Activity. Strategic Management Journal, 38(12), 2424–43.Google Scholar
Werner, T. (2023). Promise and Peril: Lessons from Shareholder Reactions to Corporate Political Activity Disclosure. In Lyon, T., ed., Corporate Political Responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
World Economic Forum. (2020). Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism: Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×