A Multi-Level Investigation of Corporate Political Influence

Studies of inter-corporate influence have focused on structural, rather than relational, modes of organizational interaction. That is, inter-corporate influence is assumed to be a function of relationships between firms’ industries rather than of dyadic relationships between the firms themselves. Our study critiques and expands on one such stream of research (Mizruchi 1992; Mizruchi & Marquis 2006) by focusing on relational predictors of influence in a study of similarity of corporate political action among large U.S. firms. We show that relational size is a key determinant of behavioral similarity, and that this mechanism varies across industry relationships. Implications of these findings, as well as the general importance of relational versus structural theories of influence, are discussed.

现有关于企业间影响力的研究多聚焦于组织互动的结构性而非关系性模式。换言之，此类研究默认企业间影响力取决于企业所处行业间的关联，而非企业自身之间的二元关系。本研究聚焦美国大型企业的企业政治行为相似度议题，围绕影响力的关系性预测因素展开，对该领域的一支经典研究（Mizruchi，1992；Mizruchi & Marquis，2006）进行了批判与拓展。本研究证实，关系规模是行为相似度的关键决定因素，且这一作用机制因行业关联的不同而存在差异。本文最后讨论了本研究发现的理论与实践启示，以及影响力的关系性理论与结构性理论的普遍研究价值。