Research

Ideological Firms as Issue Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Corporate Giving to Advocacy Issues

Job Market Paper

Recent research on corporate ideologies suggest that ideological firms – firms whose CEOs and employees are ideologically engaged – are the main and early participants in the advocacy issues of contentious nature. However, what remains to be explored is how the actions of ideological firms affect other firms in the population. Using a uniquely detailed records of U.S. corporate foundations’ donation to 4,021 advocacy nonprofits from 2003 to 2016, I find that while ideological firms’ giving encourage mainstream firms’ participation in the issue area of their choice, it also invites their ideological rivals’ participation, with red firms responding to blue firms’ giving, and blue firms responding to red firms’ giving. Such selective pattern of response is concentrated in swing states, suggesting the dynamics of ideological competition at play in the market of advocacy giving. The results suggest that, without accounting for the structure of ideological competition, ideological firms’ issue-related actions may backfire, leading to increased conflict and polarization.

Corporate Philanthropy as a Strategic Tool for Advocacy

Dissertation Chapter

Link​ to the abridged version of the paper

• Winner, Robert J. Litschert Award, STR Division, 2019 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

• Finalist, Best Conference PhD Paper Prize, 2019 Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting  

• Academy of Management 2019 Best Paper Proceedings (STR division)

• Winner, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Carlson School of Management, 2019

Giving a Little to Many or a Lot to a Few? The Benefits of Specialization and Variety in Corporate Philanthropy
(Lead-author, With Aseem Kaul and Jiao Luo)

Under 2nd R&R at Strategic Management Journal

​Link to the current version of the paper

• Winner, Distinguished Paper Award, STR Division, 2018 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

• Winner, Outstanding Paper Award, 2018 Annual Conference of Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability

• Nominated, Best Conference Paper Award, 2018 Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting

• Academy of Management 2018 Best Paper Proceedings (STR division)

Winning Us with Trifles: Adverse Selection in the Use of Philanthropy as Insurance
(With Aseem Kaul and Jiao Luo)

Strategic Management Journal. 39(10), 2591-2617
Lead article.

Link​ to the paper

• Finalist, the IACMR-RRBM Responsible Research in Management Award​

You can check out this short youtube video on the paper