Search

From research spanning decades, scholars have shown that society shapes organizations and that organizations shape society. Social activists can force organizations to take stances on social issues, and in turn, those social stances alter the public's understanding of those issues. LGBT marriage benefits are a de facto case. Pro-LGBT social activists created a cycle of targeting firms for benefits, and then firms reflected their claims' legitimacy back through society via satisficing and the media (Briscoe & Safford, 2008). Firms' products hold similar power, where a given product can impact society's perception of an entire category (Negro, Hannan & Rao, 2011). Building on a rapidly growing body of recent research, this symposium extends research on how social activists change firms and invoke social change. Each of the papers presented in this symposium goes deeper into the mechanisms, frameworks, and consequences of social activism. Our goal is to provide fresh, practical insights for academics and practitioners who are navigating the evolving space of socially- conscious management. Using our symposium's empirical papers, we explore firm-linked social change in several contexts, including community-led economic development, climate change, race, and gender. Our symposium ends with a framework to aid in identifying future topics. Rage Against the Machine: The Hidden Effects of Social Activism on Corporate Decision-making Author: Paul Merritt; Cornell U. Author: Tessa Recendes; Penn State Smeal College of Business Author: Forrest Briscoe; Cornell U. From Protests to Profits:Exploring the Unintentional Effects of Social Activism on Entrepreneurship Author: Lei Xu; U. of Missouri-St. Louis Author: Milo Shaoqing Wang; W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State U. Author: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California Selling Climate Reform: Stretching and Switching Frames in a Cross-Sectoral Network Author: Sara B. Soderstrom; U. of Michigan Author: Todd Schifeling; Fox School of Business, Temple U. Are Identity Movements Competitors or Complements? Shifts in Board Diversity During #MeToo and #BLM Author: Katherine Chen; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Author: Mary-Hunter McDonnell; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Why Do Firms Engage in Activism Despite the Risks? Corporate Sociopolitical Activism as a Signal Author: Maurice Jerel Murphy; U. of Georgia Author: Joanna Reddick; U. of Georgia Author: Michael Pfarrer; U. of Georgia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses increasingly deal with a complex (geo)political environment, resulting in high uncertainty and ambiguity. Policy uncertainty is generally seen as a barrier to clear decision-making, investment, and production, yet it also presents opportunities for businesses to navigate and potentially exploit this uncertain environment. This raises the question of whether policy uncertainty is a risk, an opportunity, or both. We delve into the key question of what type of firms are more vulnerable to, protected from, or capable of leveraging these uncertainties. In doing so, we first focus on clarifying the concept of uncertainty at different levels (e.g., global, national, industry, firm) and the different types and sources of uncertainty (e.g. financial, regulatory, geopolitical, corporate wrongdoing). In this symposium, the panel will provide insights into different types of uncertainty and their nuances, encompassing domestic and international perspectives. Further, we will discuss methodologies, data, and innovative research designs, setting the stage for addressing the critical questions that will shape the next decade of research on policy uncertainty and firm strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape for sustainability disclosures continues to evolve in response to increased societal demands for accountability and transparency from firms. This presenter symposium seeks to advance organizational scholarship around how firms navigate sustainability disclosures under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. The five featured papers propose a theoretical framework for distinct sources of uncertainty in corporate sustainability metrics, examine the predictive power of sustainability ratings in markets with multiple intermediaries, consider how firms' sustainability disclosures differ across venues, analyze when firms choose to voice support for socially contentious issues, and reflect on the circumstances under which shareholder engagement can drive firms to adopt emissions reduction practices. The Uncertainty of Corporate Sustainability Metrics Author: Magali Delmas; U. of California, Los Angeles Do ESG Ratings Predict Firms' Ability To Manage Risk? An Analysis of Five Market Intermediaries Author: Bell Piyasinchai; Cambridge Judge Business School Author: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California Author: W Chad Carlos; Brigham Young U. Going Above and Beyond? Examining Firms' Sustainability Disclosures Author: Sukanya Roy; Ross School of Business, U. of Michigan Author: Sara B. Soderstrom; U. of Michigan When Do Firms Voice Support for Socially and Politically Contentious Issues? Author: Steven Kofford; Mississippi State U. Author: Ben William Lewis; Brigham Young U. Author: W Chad Carlos; Brigham Young U. How Shareholder Engagement Influences Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Information Author: Jean-Pascal Gond; City U. London Author: Rieneke Slager; U. of Groningen [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how social cues from stakeholders and from third-party bureaucratic actors can serve as symbolic signals that can affect the decision-making of regulatory agencies. We find that social cues from reputation stakeholders and bureaucratic agencies positively affect approval rates of GMO-products by threatening the regulatory agency's reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although scholarship has highlighted how stakeholders activists influence business outcomes, few studies have examined how simultaneous, different tactics interact to impact firms. Critical to understanding this interaction is the radical flank effect, which asserts that the moderate and radical elements of social movement tactics can interact to either enhance or diminish a movement's ability to accomplish its goals. However, research is unclear about when and whether the radical flank effect enhances or diminishes movement influence and says little about factors that may influence the direction of the effect. To address these limitations, we explore one such factor--the degree to which the regulatory agencies that oversee businesses in regulated markets are accountable for their decision making. Drawing on management and political sociology studies, we argue that shifting the degree to which regulators are accountable to the public can alter the radical flank effect on business outcomes in regulated markets. We analyze stakeholder activist opposition to U.S. hydroelectric power facilities from 1987--2019. The results show that high accountability to the public enhances the radical flank effect, thereby enhancing stakeholders' activists' influence, whereas low accountability reverses the radical flank effect, thereby diminishing stakeholders' activists' impact on business outcomes. Post-hoc analyses illustrate that firm engagement with regulators who are accountable to the public can mitigate social activists' ability to impede business licensing in the presence of the positive radical flank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand institutional logics as complex, dynamic phenomena, we propose a research agenda that focuses on studying the governance dynamics of logics. This focus could be especially timely for both theoretical and empirical reasons. Theoretically, instead of assuming institutional logics as relatively stable and unchanging influences on organizations and fields, a focus on governance will redirect our attention toward an underexamined theme of how various actors may (or may fail to) maintain the coherence and durability of logics and their associated orders. Empirically, the market's encroachment upon communities, the decline and stigmatization of professions, and the rise and fall of states in different parts of the world, among other grand challenges, all point to the importance and urgency of studying how different institutional logics and orders may be governed and maintained--especially during societal crises. This symposium aims at developing this research agenda by exploring the governance practices and mechanisms that sustain institutional logics as ongoing efforts as well as the various actors who are motivated or affected by the unfolding of logics. * Cross-institutional Governance: Logics, Orders, and Society * Presenter: Juan Almandoz; IESE Business School * Presenter: Patricia H. Thornton; Texas A&M U. and HEC, Paris * The Crisis of Governance in the Professions and Its Impact on Other Institutional Logics * Presenter: Brooke Harrington; Copenhagen Business School * Sustaining Values in Inter-Organizational Partnerships: The Case of Local Food Hubs * Presenter: Marya Besharov; Oxford U., Saïd Business School * Presenter: Bjoern C. Mitzinneck; Groningen U. (RuG) * How Revolutions Detach Institutional Carriers from Governing Logics: Insights from the Arab Spring * Presenter: Daniel Erian Armanios; Oxford U., Saïd Business School * Presenter: Amr Adly; American U. of Cairo * Refugees at the Door: Institutional Logics and New Venture Performance in a Changing Emerging Market * Presenter: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California * Presenter: Ryan Scott Coles; U. of Connecticut * Presenter: Wesley Sine; Cornell U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurs constitute a key economic driving force for many emerging economies. In this paper, we explore how political environments affect entrepreneurial processes and outcomes in firms. We present a theory that explains how political turmoil influences entrepreneurial networking and moderates planning processes. We test this theory using a sample of 730 new ventures in Colombia from 1997-2001. This paper directs attention to the primary influence of political institutions in emerging economies on entrepreneurial processes and outcomes and highlights the need for governments to make institutional changes that will aid in the emergence and growth of entrepreneurial organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change presents a clear and present danger to our society. Businesses and the civil society have made strong commitments and collaborative efforts to address climate change, yet the problem has become increasingly severe. There have recently been growing scholarly interests to understand the barriers of how to effectively deal with current grand challenges, and how such barriers can be overcome. However, important questions remain to identify the best path forward. This symposium brings together leading and emerging scholars in the area to discuss some of these important questions. The four papers in the symposium illustrate unintended consequences from efforts in addressing climate change across different contexts and emphasize the need for strong collaboration at a global scale. The papers suggest solutions to the problem and offer important implications to academics, policies and practices, setting an agenda for future research. The symposium discusses empirical and theoretical connections of research across contexts including institutions, industries, businesses, and organizations' decision makers, and offer management scholars promising opportunities for future exploration. Non- and Sub-State Action in Post-Paris Climate Governance: Review of a Contested Field. Presenter: Julia Grimm; Cambridge Judge Business School. Carbon Targets and Target Attainment. Presenter: Eun-Hee Kim; Fordham U. Presenter: Patrick J. Callery; Sprott School of Business, Carleton U. The Grasshopper and the Ant: Variation in Organizational Adaptive Responses to Climate Change. Presenter: Lucrezia Nava; Cambridge Judge Business School. Presenter: Maja Tampe; ESADE Business School. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: the Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility. Presenter: Kala Viswanathan; Harvard U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich body of "cultural entrepreneurship" research has matured over the last decade, offering unique insights into the meaning-making and cultural processes by which market categories shape, and are shaped by, entrepreneurial action. Although cultural entrepreneurship research recognizes that actors must construct the meaning-system that underpins emerging categories, early research on the topic typically assumed that categories stabilize once they become established. More recently, a growing body of work has begun to question whether the boundaries and underlying meanings that underpin categories are ever really settled, suggesting a need for a more dynamic understanding of market category evolution. Thus, the primary goal of this symposium is to further our understanding of how actors shape the trajectories that market categories may take, outlining fruitful avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World water resources, once seen as plentiful and virtually infinite, are under increasing pressure from population growth, urbanization, industrial demands, and climate change. Although isolated and local water shortages and conflicts are not new, broad-based recognition of the growing challenges facing water resources and management emerged only recently. Corporations, global governments and institutions , and the environmental and social justice movements have all called attention to this emerging water crisis, or 'grand challenge' in recent years. Yet, despite this attention, water has remained relatively absent from business literature and research, meaning that managers may be ill prepared to face growing business pressures and demands in a growing 'water constrained' reality (Kurland & Zell, 2010).This symposium will highlight several key issues at the intersection of water crises and business and showcase important research that approaches these challenges from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. Specifically, this symposium aims to offer an overview of current cutting-edge research on water issues with six studies that explore the antecedents and consequences of the interactions of individuals, managers, organizations, institutions, and governments with water. Active audience participation will follow the paper presentations and discussant commentary. Exploring the Behavioural and Psychosocial Determinants of Household Water Demand Presenter: Sally V. Russell; U. of Leeds Presenter: Christof Knoeri; ETH Zurich Do for Profit Firms Degrade Quality? Evidence from U.S. Drinking Water Systems Presenter: Thomas Peyton Lyon; U. of Michigan Presenter: A. Wren Montgomery; Ivey Business School Presenter: Dan Zhao; U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Elections and Organizations: A Dynamic Political View of Firm Behavior and Performance Presenter: Carlos Inoue; U. of Toronto Water Wars? Institutional Shocks, Private and Public Divestures in Latin America Presenter: Ilze Kivleniece; INSEAD Trickling Up and Down: Multilevel Field Interactions and the Global Water Crisis Presenter: A. Wren Montgomery; Ivey Business School Business Challenges at the Nexus of Water: Examples from the Renewable Energy Sector Presenter: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governmental actors are of high importance for firms. In the case of nascent firms seeking market entry, the importance of governmental actors, particularly regulatory agencies as key gate-keepers, is even more heightened. However, accounts of the way in which nascent firms navigate this aspect of their nonmarket environment have been largely absent from entrepreneurship, nonmarket strategy and institutional theory. In this proposed symposium, we seek to bring some much- needed attention to the nascent firms' strategies for engaging with state actors. The four papers in this symposium explore both the different tactics that nascent firms employ, compared to incumbents, in terms of their strategic interactions with state actors, as well as the consequences of these tactics for entrepreneurial outcomes. In doing so, our goal is to encourage future research to further explore the intersection of entrepreneurship and institutional theory/nonmarket strategy. Fighting on Two Fronts: Entrepreneurial Strategies in Regulated Markets Presenter: Jake B. Grandy; CSU, Long Beach Disrupting Corporate Political Strategy: Toward an Integrated Strategy for Start-Ups Presenter: Ivana Katic; Yale School of Management Presenter: Nicholas Occhiuto; Yale U. Bringing In the Administrative State: The Interplay of Government Agencies and Entrepreneurship Presenter: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California Entrepreneurial Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Nascent Industries Presenter: Cheng Gao; U. of Michigan, Ross School of Business Presenter: Rory Morgan McDonald; Harvard U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that the political ideology of top executives is an important predictor of behaviors in organizations. While a number of recent studies have identified the impact of political ideology on some organizational outcomes, much more theory and research is needed to understand the full influence of ideology across different institutional contexts. This symposium seeks to shed additional light on the role of various types of ideologies and their interplay under different political and social institutions, including the classic liberalism-conservatism axis in the U.S. context, political pluralism in Mexico, social and economic liberalism in Iran, and pragmatism-idealism in India with five theoretically rich empirical papers. Specifically, the papers in this symposium contribute to research on ideology in the management literature by: 1) examining not only the effect of ideology, but also its interplay with political and social institutions in which the effect of ideology manifests; 2) not only examining the ideology of CEOs, but also the ideology of organizations, politicians, political parties and communities; 3) expanding the scope of ideology from the liberalism-conservatism to other types of ideology in the international settings, such as India, Mexico, Iran; and 4) extending the effect of ideology not only on domestic organizational and social outcomes, such as responses to social activism, corporate entrepreneurship, education attainment, but also on international activities, such as foreign firms' entry and M&As. Unpacking Political Ideology: CEO Social and Economic Ideologies, TMT Processes, and Corporate Entre Presenter: M. K. Chin; Indiana U. Bloomington Presenter: Stephen Xu Zhang; U. Of Sydney Presenter: Asghar Jahanshahi; Pontifical Catholic U. of Peru Organizational Political Ideology and Corporate Openness to Social Activism Presenter: Abhinav Gupta; U. of Washington, Seattle Regional Variation: Do Leaders Matter? Presenter: Arijit Chatterjee; ESSEC Business School Presenter: Anthony Vashevko; ESSEC Business School Political Pluralism, Partisan Retaliation, and Their Effect on Firm Entry in the Mexican Maquiladora Presenter: Shon R. Hiatt; U. of Southern California Global Meets Local: Community, Political Ideology and Chinese Cross- border M&As in the U.S. Presenter: Danqing Wang; Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology Presenter: Yinuo Tang; U. of hong kong [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades organizational theorists focused studying geographically independent organizational fields because it seemed that technology and globalization rendered boundaries meaningless. However, social movements across the US, Europe, and developing world are rejecting the free flow of goods, investment, information, and people in favor of reasserting more local control over economy and society. The success of these social movements has led to calls for organizational theorists to renew research emphasizing the enduring influence of geographically bounded community on organizational behavior. Thus, in this symposium we bring together a group of scholars studying the influence of local community effects on entrepreneurship. By drawing on quantitative research from a range of countries (Mexico, U.S., and Egypt), we aim to better understand the impact of local community embeddedness, identity, stability, and economic equality on local entrepreneurship. Following the paper presentations, Phillip Anderson will lead an interactive discussion about the contributions of the research presented and future directions for research in this area. How do I Look? Regional Criminal Identity, Media Coverage and Foreign Firm Market Entry Presenter: Arkangel Miguel Cordero; U. of Texas At San Antonio Presenter: Wesley Sine; Cornell U. How Revolutions Shape Markets: Insights from Entrepreneurial Financing During the Arab Spring Presenter: Daniel Erian Armanios; Engineering & Public Policy (EPP), Carnegie Mellon U. Presenter: Amr Adly; American U. in Cairo Community Identity and the Emergence of Entrepreneurial Opportunity from Regulatory Change Presenter: Loren H. Rich; U. of Utah, David Eccles School of Business Presenter: Ryan Scott Coles; Cornell U. Presenter: Jeremy Cox; U. of Utah Equality and the Spirit of Capitalism: Economic Inequality and Entrepreneurship in Communities Presenter: Ryan Scott Coles; Cornell U. Surviving or Thriving: Community Effects on New Firm Performance Presenter: Robert Neal Eberhart; Santa Clara U. Presenter: Renee Maria Rottner; U. of California, Santa Barbara. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing and underdeveloped nations across the globe face issues ranging from lack of rule of law and scarce resources to conflict and violence. These issues are not only hurdles for the economic and business development within those nations, but also affect the security and economic well-being of individuals in developed countries. Entrepreneurship is increasingly identified as a tool to help populations in developing contexts overcome those hurdles. In this symposium we bring together a group of scholars to explore the institutional foundations of entrepreneurship in various global contexts. By drawing on research across several developing and underdeveloped economies, we aim to understand the conditions that make entrepreneurship more accessible to populations in developing and underdeveloped countries so that it can be more readily used as a tool to overcome the institutional and social problems typical of those areas. We include five empirical papers that explore variations in the practice of entrepreneurship in China, Mexico, and Kenya. Following the paper presentations, Zur Shapira, the Editor-in-Chief of Organization Science, will provide feedback on the papers and lead an interactive group discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While entrepreneurial collective action seldom arises without free riding, this problem has not been fully examined in the emergence of new markets where collective action is critical for gaining and defending legitimacy. We address this issue by exploring how entrepreneurial ventures' common efforts to promote a collective identity unfold in response to social movement contestation of the market. We propose that opposition activism has a bifurcated impact on verbal and nonverbal dimensions of identity claim-making by causing entrepreneurs to perceive differently the costs between the two. Using the emergent U.S. wood pellet market as an empirical context, we show that environmental activists' targeting of forest-product manufacturers is associated with increased similarity of what pellet firms claim to be (i.e., renewable energy producers) but decreased similarity of what they actually do. The study has implications for new market legitimation, social-movement, and sustainability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While government spending constitutes a major source of many firms' revenues, we have limited knowledge about how firms may influence government-agency contracting decisions. Drawing upon research on bureaucratic autonomy and embeddedness, we argue that firm geographic proximity to contracting officers can be an important strategy for influencing state-agency decisions. Using government contract data from the United States Department of Defense, we find that geographical proximity between a contracting office and bidding firm increases the firm's propensity to receive government contracts and that this effect varies depending on the level of decision-making discretion of the contracting officer. We also explore instances where corporate lobbying may be more important. This study has theoretical and practical implications for business-government relations, corporate political action, and organization theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industries evolve through life cycles: emergence, early growth, maturity, decline, and sometimes even re-emergence. Such processes are guided and shaped by a complex web of interlinking forces and mechanisms. In this symposium, we bring together a group of scholars to explore one such force: identity. By drawing on qualitative and quantitative research from a range of industries, we aim to examine both the ways that identity (whether individual, organizational, or collective) shapes industry emergence, and - in turn - the ways that industry emergence (and occasionally re-emergence) shape identities. We include five empirical papers that explore identity and emergence from multiple perspectives. Following the paper presentations, Wesley Sine, who has published extensively on the topic, will provide a theoretical summary and lead an interactive group discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scholars have shown that collective activists can negatively affect performance of individual firms, little is known about how firms respond to field-level private politics--activist attacks that threaten the legitimacy of collective identities shared by all firms in the field. We suggest that firms may promulgate an alternative collective identity while shifting away from the tarnished identity to address the issue of legitimacy threats. Using the U.S. wood-biomass sector as an empirical setting, we describe how wood pellet producers attempted to frame a collective identity of sustainable, renewable energy producers and shift away from a negative identity portrayed by forestry conservation activists of exploitative forest product manufacturers. We empirically examine the consequences and contingencies of this tactic on pellet firms being legally recognized as renewable energy producers and its subsequent impact on the growth of the biomass sector. We also discuss the implications of these findings for research on social movements, organization theory, and nonmarket strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]