scholarly journals Datafied corporate political activity: Updating corporate advocacy for a digital era

Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050842092851
Author(s):  
John Murray ◽  
Mikkel Flyverbom
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Digital Spaces

Digital transformations have significant consequences for organizational attempts to shape their environments. Our focus is on how corporate political activity evolves in ways that require us to pay more attention to how information gets structured in digital spaces, and on how information ecosystems operate and shape strategic communication activities in organizational settings. We outline these digital transformations, offer a focus on corporate political activity as informational and develop a typology of datafied corporate political activity techniques to illustrate how the workings of digital spaces shape political issues more concretely. This serves to highlight the necessity of extending the focus of informational corporate political activity beyond the contents of overt and direct messages to include the more covert and subtle forms of influence made possible through the strategic structuring of information itself. This also contributes to our understanding of the political significance of corporate political activity, which is less about influencing political issues by composing appealing messages and distributing them to relevant audiences, and more about influencing political issues by organizing digital information and feeding algorithms. We suggest that such datastructures and algorithmic forms of sorting will become as important as message contents, and that datafied advocacy will become a central component of corporate political activity and other organizational activities.

Political Identity, Democratic Empowerment, and Political Learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Niels Noergaard Kristensen
Keyword(s):  
Political Identity ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Turmoil

The political commotion of the world is rising anew. Political challenges and political turmoil unfold side by side, and at the fore of many current political struggles stands the notion of “political identity.” Identity is a key asset in citizens' orientations toward political issues, their selection of information, and not least their political participation at large. The character of political challenges and struggles suggests that we need a revitalized and more comprehensive conceptual framework and operationalization of political identity. Political identity plays a role in most political activity, and the authors engage in elaborating the concept. The discussion presents the notion of political learning in order to bridge the complex and vigorous relations between on the one side political orientations and awareness and on the other side current manifestations of democratic political identities.

‘To activists: Please post and share your story’: Renewing understandings on civic participation and the role of Facebook in the Indignados movement

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venetia Papa
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
International Financial Crisis ◽  
Online Social Media

The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, has highlighted the extensive use of online social media in activism, leaving aside the extent to which citizenship is enacted, empowered and potentially transformed by social media use within these movements. Drawing on citizenship and communication theories, this study employs a cross-country analysis of the relationship between citizenship, civic practices and social media within the Indignados movement in Greece and France. By the use of semi-structured interviews, we attempt to discern the degree of involvement of actors with the political community in question and explore the complex layers of their motivations and goals around participation. Content analysis employed in the movement’s Facebook groups allows us to critically evaluate the potential of social media in (re)defining the meaning and practice of civic participation. Findings indicate that the failure of traditional forms of civic participation to attain and resolve everyday political issues becomes its potential to transfer the political activity in other sites of struggle. The role of Facebook is double: it can reinforce civic talk and debate through activists’ digital story telling (around shared feelings and personal stories) significant for meaningful activist participation online and offline. Second, it can support new forms of alternative politics inspired by more participatory modes of engagement.

scholarly journals Food industry political practices in Chile: “the economy has always been the main concern”

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélissa Mialon ◽  
Camila Corvalan ◽  
Gustavo Cediel ◽  
Fernanda Baeza Scagliusi ◽  
Marcela Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
Nutrition Labelling

Abstract Background In the business literature, the term “corporate political activity” (CPA) refers to the political strategies undertaken by corporations to protect or expend their markets, by influencing, directly or indirectly, the policy process. There is evidence that food industry actors use such political practices, which poses a significant threat to public health. Our study objective was to identify the political practices of the food industry in Chile. Results In Chile, food industry actors supported community initiatives, particularly those targeted at children and those focused on environmental sustainability. Food industry actors also funded research through prizes, scholarships, and by supporting scientific events. Food industry actors lobbied against the development and implementation of a front-of-pack nutrition labelling policy, including with support from the Ministries of Economy, Agriculture and Foreign Affairs. Food industry actors, for example, claimed that there would be unintended negative consequences for society and the economy, and that the policy would breach trade agreements. The same arguments were used against a proposed tax increase on sugar-sweetened beverages. Food industry actors stressed their crucial role in the Chilean economy and claimed to be part of the solution in the prevention and control of obesity, with a particular focus on their efforts to reformulate food products, and their support of physical activity initiatives. Interviewees noted that the political influence of the food industry is often facilitated by the neo-liberal and market-driven economy of Chile. Nevertheless, this system was questioned through social protests that started in the country during data collection. Conclusions In Chile, food industry actors used numerous action- and argument-based CPA practices which may influence public health policy, research, and practice. Despite strong influence from the food industry, Chile adopted a front-of-pack nutrition labelling policy. While the country has some measures in place to manage the interactions between government officials or public health professionals, and the industry, there is still a need to develop robust mechanisms to address undue influence from corporations.

The End of Corporate Political Activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 139-151
Author(s):  
Tyler K. Wasson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
Market Strategy ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
And Behaviors

Corporate political activity (CPA) is one of the most prolific academic literatures which examines the political behaviors of corporations. CPA researchers often define it as a non-market strategy which corporations can engage in to influence political outcomes that complement their market objectives. In this paper I argue that, despite continuous theoretical development, CPA has not kept pace with changes in the political role and behaviors of corporations, particularly multinational corporations (MNCs), which has resulted in an inaccurate view of the corporate political environment. Therefore, CPA theory ought to be updated to be more descriptively and theoretically accurate.

scholarly journals The political duality: On the advantages and disadvantages of ex-politicians and former government officials serving on boards of directors

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-23
Author(s):  
Mark A. Fuller ◽  
Chris Bart
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Outside Directors ◽  
Corporate Board ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages

In this study, we examine two key issues situated at the intersection of corporate governance and corporate political activity literature. The first is whether the presence of ex-politicians or former government officials on a corporate board provides a competitive advantage for the firm. A second, related question is whether the presence of these outside directors on the board of directors is perceived as desirable by their fellow directors. While some have characterized the study of board processes as a black box (Leblanc, 2003; Pugliese et al., 2009) due to the difficulty in acquiring data, we circumvented this challenge by directly surveying 82 Canadian board members, then delved deeper with ten directors using supplemental qualitative interviews. The results were examined via the lens of strategic positioning theory in contrast to the well-worn use of agency and resource dependency theories in the literature. Our findings suggest that heterogeneous benefits may accrue depending upon the industry involved, and the political experience of the director(s) in question. However, a majority of current directors expressed significant reservations concerning the appointment of a political director. These findings, combined with the understudied Canadian context and the use of qualitative research methods, contribute to the extant literature.

scholarly journals Political Education for High School Students in Makassar City

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Handam ◽  
Muchlas M Tahir
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Positive Response ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
School Students ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Media

This article aims to discuss the political activity of beginner voter education for high school students to realize the awareness of novice voters to participate in elections, understanding the importance of the role of novice voters in the democratic process, and knowledge of political developments for novice voters. The results achieved are the emergence of student enthusiasm in discussing matters related to political issues. It is quite visible that this is marked by the topics they discuss about elections that produce trustworthy leaders and then enlightenment given in understanding the importance of novice voters in participating the election was well received and the enthusiasm for conducting the election received a positive response from the students, but it was interesting because it turned out that students' understanding of the general election was more influenced by the media they watched such as TV and social media

scholarly journals The political activities of American corporate leaders

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Nownes ◽  
Nurgul R. Aitalieva
Keyword(s):  
Mail Survey ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Politically Active

What is the nature and extent of corporate leader involvement in American national politics? The results of a mail survey of nearly 100 such individuals show that leaders are quite active, devoting an average of nearly 1 hour per day to national political activity. We also show that corporate leaders engage in a wide range of advocacy activities. Monetary activities loom particularly large in the political lives of American corporate leaders, as large numbers are approached by members of Congress for contributions, and many who are approached answer the call. In addition, we find that corporate leaders, unlike advocacy professionals, do a great deal of their advocacy work in private; for the most part they eschew public activities such as testifying before congressional committees. Speaking to the question of which leaders are most politically active, our data evince a strong relationship between firm political activity and firm leader political activity. In sum, politically active firms have politically active leaders. We thus contribute to the ongoing academic discussion of corporate political activity by showing that the CEO's office is an additional locus of political power within business firms, and that CEO political activity is instrumental rather than consumptive in nature.

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