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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Political Science
Year Degree Awarded
2016
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
Raymond J. La Raja
Second Advisor
Bruce A. Desmarais
Third Advisor
Brian F. Schaffner
Fourth Advisor
Thomas Moliterno
Subject Categories
American Politics | Models and Methods
Abstract
Scholars have long looked at business as a source of political power, but have come to differing conclusions about how corporations behave in pursuit of interests. Building on organizational theory and conditional choice literature, I hypothesize that corporations react to the actions of those around them, leading to cooperation and coordination. While others point to the importance of social ties created through corporate board memberships, I locate an additional social tie that takes place through trade association memberships. In addition, I demonstrate that rather than fragmenting in recent years, business has in fact become more cohesive in their giving patterns. Using data from the 1990-2012 United States House of Representatives elections and lobbying expenditure, along with a survey of corporate executives, and employing community detection and network autocorrelation, I demonstrate that corporations have become more closely aligned in their political giving, and further, that common trade association membership is a significant predictor of corporate political activity.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/8420819.0
Recommended Citation
Kowal, Michael, "The Social Corporation: Firms, Networks, and Politics" (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 653.
https://doi.org/10.7275/8420819.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/653