Corporate political activity (CPA) research has traditionally focused on instrumental and strategic value, explicitly ignoring how external stakeholders, specifically the public, view the legitimacy implications of CPA, in particular with regard to partisan forms of CPA. Yet, recent research has begun introducing normative considerations into CPA, highlighting the impact of public evaluations on CPA, and partisan CPA, in particular. Focusing on normative affective legitimacy, as proxied by the tone of mass-media reporting rhetoric, this study explores the effect of firm and CEO partisan political contributions on corporate affective legitimacy. Utilizing three types of dynamic panel data analyses on S&P 500 firms over 20 years, the study provides consistent evidence that both firm-level and CEO-level partisan political action committee contributions are negatively associated with affective-based corporate legitimacy. Post hoc analyses reveal that in response to affective-legitimacy evaluations, firms reduce firm-level partisan political contributions and lobbying expenditures, but not other forms of CPA or partisan CPA. The study also finds that state-level public political polarization moderates the association between CEO partisan contributions and firms’ affective-legitimacy evaluations. This study is the first to systematically document the negative normative impact of CPA and partisan CPA. It strongly informs CPA theory and has practical implications for executives’ use of partisan CPA.

中文翻译：

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遵守党的路线？公司和首席执行官党派之争对企业大众媒体规范合法性的影响

企业政治活动 (CPA) 研究传统上侧重于工具性和战略价值，明显忽视了外部利益相关者（特别是公众）如何看待 CPA 的合法性影响，特别是在 CPA 的党派形式方面。然而，最近的研究已经开始将规范性考虑因素引入 CPA，强调公众评估对 CPA，特别是党派 CPA 的影响。本研究以大众媒体报道言论的语气为代表，重点关注规范性情感合法性，探讨了公司和首席执行官的党派政治贡献对企业情感合法性的影响。该研究利用 20 年来对标准普尔 500 强公司的三种动态面板数据进行分析，提供了一致的证据，表明公司层面和首席执行官层面的党派政治行动委员会的贡献与基于情感的企业合法性呈负相关。事后分析表明，为了应对情感合法性评估，公司减少了公司层面的党派政治捐款和游说支出，但不会减少其他形式的 CPA 或党派 CPA。研究还发现，州级公共政治两极分化会调节首席执行官党派贡献与公司情感合法性评估之间的关联。这项研究首次系统地记录了 CPA 和党派 CPA 的负面规范影响。它为 CPA 理论提供了强有力的信息，并对高管人员使用党派 CPA 具有实际意义。