An Empirical Evaluation of the Potential for Including Shareholders in Corporate Constituency Programs

As corporations have experienced heightened uncertainty in their political and regulatory environments, they have increased use of political strategies to influence public policy. Some of these strategies focus on building external constituencies to serve as advocates for the firm in the political arena. The present study examined the feasibility of corporations including their shareholders as subjects of their constituency programs. A sample of 2,151 shareholders of 6 major firms was surveyed about attitudes toward corporate political activities and willingness to become personally involved in advocating corporate political interests. Generally, shareholders were supportive of corporate political activities and were willing to become involved in them, suggesting that they should be considered valuable resources in corporate efforts to influence public policy. In addition, shareholders who had been involved in corporate constituency programs had more favorable attitudes toward corporate political activities than did shareholders who had never experienced such involvement.