Replication Data for: Public Perceptions of ‘Woke’ Corporate Political Advocacy

Corporations engage in numerous forms of political advocacy. Generally, however, scholars can only speculate as to why corporations express their preferences on questions of public policy or make decisions that may negatively affect the firm's bottom line. Existing research demonstrates that public perceptions of corporate political activity depend in part on an individual's tendency to agree with the corporation's expressed position(s). Here, we examine the conditions under which individuals approve or disapprove of corporate political advocacy by testing other origins of attitudes toward such actions by firms. Specifically, we use an original survey experiment to analyze how the motives behind state legislatures criticizing a company for engaging in sustainable investment practices shape public opinion toward this sort of corporate activity. We find limited support for our hypotheses. We find mixed evidence regarding whether elite frames shift preferences for corporate political engagement, with differences across partisan identification and preferences for government sanctions. Given the salience of social and environmental complications related to climate change, as well as ongoing debates over corporate influence on public policy, our results provide new insights into how the public processes corporate political advocacy.

企业会以多种形式开展政治倡导活动。然而长期以来，学者们仅能对企业为何就公共政策议题表达自身偏好，或是做出可能损害企业盈利底线的决策作出推测。既有研究显示，公众对企业政治活动的认知，在一定程度上取决于个体是否认同企业所表达的立场。本研究通过检验公众对企业此类行为态度的其他成因，探讨个体认可或反对企业政治倡导的具体情境。具体而言，本研究采用原创性调查实验法，分析州议会因企业开展可持续投资实践而对其提出批评背后的动机，如何塑造公众对这类企业行为的看法。本研究仅为部分研究假说提供了有限的实证支持。关于精英话语框架是否会改变公众对企业政治参与的偏好，本研究得到了混合的实证证据，且该效应因个体党派认同及对政府制裁的偏好不同而存在差异。鉴于气候变化相关的社会与环境问题日益凸显，且社会各界仍在持续热议企业对公共政策的影响力，本研究结果为公众如何认知与解读企业政治倡导行为提供了全新的研究视角。