Corporate Political Activity

Corporate political activity (CPA) represents attempts by firms to access the public policy sphere at the local or state level, the national level, and the regional, supranational, or global level, to achieve corporate goals. Typically defined as a nonmarket strategy, as it occurs in the public policy arena, this strategy is gaining momentum in the United States and abroad. Corporate reputation and the related concept of legitimacy may provide specific benefits to politically active firms, as having higher reputation can help in firms’ access to the public policy arena and thus leverage CPA. Alternatively, CPA may also increase firm reputation in the public policy arena.

In the Unites States, CPA has been observed since the early days of the republic, but scholarly interest in CPA gained ...