Strategic Risk and Lobbying: Investigating Lobbying Breadth as Risk Management

Despite many studies investigating how lobbying expenditures enhance performance outcomes, limited attention has been given to understanding the underlying mechanisms driving firm lobbying behaviors—and, particularly, where firms target their lobbying expenditures. We argue lobbying breadth serves as a risk management strategy to both hedge against possible government intrusion and minimize disapproval of firm actions from government officials. As such, we posit firms’ strategic risk will positively relate to breadth of lobbying firms’ target. Further, if lobbying breadth serves as risk management strategy, then other aspects that affect decisions about the amount of risk protection a firm may need should also affect this relationship. We argue that CEOs’ ownership and firms’ political uncertainty may exacerbate exposure from firm risk taking to government actions, thus strengthening the insurance relationship. Similarly, we argue available slack, as a form of internal insurance against government actions, will weaken the relationship between strategic risk taking and lobbying breadth. We find support for most of our arguments in a sample of U. S. manufacturing firms. This research extends understanding of lobbying beyond the predominant focus on expenditures and securing beneficial outcomes. Exploring how lobbying breadth serves an important risk management role also offers insights into firm nonmarket strategy.