IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v186y2025ics0148296324005216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When employees matter: How employee resource groups and workforce liberalism jointly spur firms to support Pro-LGBTQ legislation

Author

Listed:
  • Selling, Niels
  • de Bakker, Frank G.A.

Abstract

Employees are increasingly vocal about and attentive toward their organizations’ social policies and practices. Scholars have identified two main channels through which employees influence responsible business conduct: (1) employee activists proactively shaping corporate decisions and (2) the prevailing worldviews and attitudes of the workforce, which create normative pressure on appropriate corporate behavior. We propose that these two channels interact to produce high levels of employee influence. To assess this hypothesis, we examined corporate support for the Equality Act, a US congressional bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Our quantitative analysis shows that firms with both LGBTQ employee resource groups and liberal workforces were more likely to endorse the Equality Act. Qualitative methods then allowed us to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms. Thus, our study expands our understanding of what enables employees to advance responsible business conduct and why firms engage in sociopolitical issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Selling, Niels & de Bakker, Frank G.A., 2025. "When employees matter: How employee resource groups and workforce liberalism jointly spur firms to support Pro-LGBTQ legislation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:186:y:2025:i:c:s0148296324005216
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296324005216
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brayden G King & Edward J. Carberry, 2020. "Movements, Societal Crisis, and Organizational Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1741-1745, December.
    2. Lisa Buchter, 2021. "Escaping the Ellipsis of Diversity : Insider Activists’ Use of Implementation Resources to Influence Organization Policy," Post-Print hal-03188246, HAL.
    3. You-Ta Chuang & Robin Church & Ron Ophir, 2011. "Taking Sides: The Interactive Influences of Institutional Mechanisms on the Adoption of Same-Sex Partner Health Benefits by Fortune 500 Corporations, 1990--2003," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 190-209, February.
    4. Aurélien Feix & Georg Wernicke, 2024. "When Is CEO Activism Conducive to the Democratic Process?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 755-774, April.
    5. Abagail McWilliams & David D. Van Fleet & Kenneth D. Cory, 2002. "Raising Rivals’ Costs Through Political Strategy: An Extension of Resource‐based Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 707-724, July.
    6. Hansen, Wendy L. & Mitchell, Neil J., 2000. "Disaggregating and Explaining Corporate Political Activity: Domestic and Foreign Corporations in National Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 891-903, December.
    7. Kitschelt, Herbert P., 1986. "Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 57-85, January.
    8. Page, Benjamin I. & Shapiro, Robert Y., 1983. "Effects of Public Opinion on Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 175-190, March.
    9. Maks-Solomon, Cory & Drewry, Josiah Mark, 2021. "Why Do Corporations Engage in LGBT Rights Activism? LGBT Employee Groups as Internal Pressure Groups," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 124-152, March.
    10. Russell W. Coff, 1999. "When Competitive Advantage Doesn't Lead to Performance: The Resource-Based View and Stakeholder Bargaining Power," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 119-133, April.
    11. Vlas, Cristina O. & Richard, Orlando C. & Andrevski, Goce & Konrad, Alison M. & Yang, Yang, 2022. "Dynamic capabilities for managing racially diverse workforces: Effects on competitive action variety and firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 600-618.
    12. Abhinav Gupta & Forrest Briscoe & Donald C. Hambrick, 2017. "Red, blue, and purple firms: Organizational political ideology and corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1018-1040, May.
    13. Hutton, Irena & Jiang, Danling & Kumar, Alok, 2014. "Corporate Policies of Republican Managers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(5-6), pages 1279-1310, December.
    14. Maureen Blyler & Russell W. Coff, 2003. "Dynamic capabilities, social capital, and rent appropriation: ties that split pies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7), pages 677-686, July.
    15. Gutiérrez, Angélica S. & Saint Clair, Julian K., 2018. "Do organizations' diversity signals threaten members of the majority group? The case of employee professional networks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 110-120.
    16. Frank Hond & Kathleen A. Rehbein & Frank G. A. Bakker & Hilde Kooijmans-van Lankveld, 2014. "Playing on Two Chessboards: Reputation Effects between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Political Activity (CPA)," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 790-813, July.
    17. Clemens, Bruce W. & Douglas, Thomas J., 2005. "Understanding strategic responses to institutional pressures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1205-1213, September.
    18. Vanessa C. Burbano, 2021. "The Demotivating Effects of Communicating a Social-Political Stance: Field Experimental Evidence from an Online Labor Market Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1004-1025, February.
    19. Haitao Chu & Hongfei Guo & Yijie Zhou, 2010. "Bivariate Random Effects Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Studies Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 30(4), pages 499-508, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chung, Sung Hun (Brian) & Odziemkowska, Kate & Piazza, Alessandro, 2024. "Threading the Needle of Corporate Activism: How Firms Frame Their Stances on Polarizing Social Issues," OSF Preprints 2ejyp_v1, Center for Open Science.
    2. Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Mazouz, Khelifa & Wood, Geoffrey, 2021. "The consequences of political donations for IPO premium and performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Rajwani, Tazeeb & Lawton, Thomas C., 2020. "Information and nonmarket strategy: Conceptualizing the interrelationship between big data and corporate political activity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    4. Volkan Tibet Gur & Andrey Tomashevskiy, 2024. "Taking sides: Corporate social responsibility and political ideology," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 1321-1344, November.
    5. Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong & Daniel Aghanya & Tazeeb Rajwani, 2020. "Corporate Political Strategies in Weak Institutional Environments: A Break from Conventions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 855-876, February.
    6. Heejung Byun & Joseph Raffiee & Martin Ganco, 2019. "Discontinuities in the Value of Relational Capital: The Effects on Employee Entrepreneurship and Mobility," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1368-1393, November.
    7. Skilton, Paul F., 2009. "Knowledge based resources, property based resources and supplier bargaining power in Hollywood motion picture projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 834-840, August.
    8. Ted Hayduk, 2022. "Association membership, election cycles, and political donation patterns," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 359-384, December.
    9. Greiner, Michael & Kim, Jaemin & Cordon Thor, Jennifer, 2023. "Narcissistic CEOs and their corporate political activity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    10. Devarakonda, Ramakrishna & Reuer, Jeffrey J. & Tadikonda, Harsha, 2022. "Founder social capital and value appropriation in R&D alliance agreements," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(4).
    11. Gammeltoft, Peter & Panibratov, Andrei, 2024. "Emerging market multinationals and the politics of internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3).
    12. Mazur Karolina, 2013. "Isolating mechanisms as sustainability factors of resource-based competitive advantage," Management, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 31-46, December.
    13. Greiner, Michael & Kim, Jaemin & Cordon Thor, Jennifer, 2023. "CEO values as antecedents to corporate political activity: An empirical exploration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Elisabet Garriga, 2014. "Beyond Stakeholder Utility Function: Stakeholder Capability in the Value Creation Process," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 489-507, April.
    15. Nicolaï Foss & Nils Stieglitz, 2012. "Modern Resource-based Theory(ies)," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Woon Leong Lin, 2019. "Is Corporate Political Activity an Investment or Agency? An Application of System GMM Approach," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, January.
    17. Shirodkar, Vikrant & Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Rajwani, Tazeeb & Lawton, Thomas C., 2024. "MNE nonmarket strategy in a changing world: Complexities, varieties, and a values-based approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(2).
    18. Kshitij Awasthi & Rejie George, 2021. "Influence Capital in Boards: a study of ex-bureaucrats in India," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1525-1559, December.
    19. Aleksandra Kacperczyk & Chanchal Balachandran, 2018. "Vertical and Horizontal Wage Dispersion and Mobility Outcomes: Evidence from the Swedish Microdata," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 17-38, February.
    20. Jeong-Yeon Lee & Daniel G. Bachrach & Denise M. Rousseau, 2015. "Internal Labor Markets, Firm-Specific Human Capital, and Heterogeneity Antecedents of Employee Idiosyncratic Deal Requests," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 794-810, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:186:y:2025:i:c:s0148296324005216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.