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Rethinking the Ethics of Corporate Political Activities in a Post-Citizens United Era: Political Equality, Corporate Citizenship, and Market Failures

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  • Pierre-Yves Néron

    (Université Catholique de Lille)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide some insights for a normative theory of corporate political activities (CPAs). Such a theory aims to provide theoretical tools to investigate the legitimacy of corporate political involvement and allows us to determine which political activities and relations with government regulators are appropriate or inappropriate, permissible or impermissible, obligatory or forbidden for corporations. After having explored what I call the “normative presumption of legitimacy” of CPAs, this paper identifies three different plausible strategies to criticize and object to corporate political involvement: the “egalitarian” strategy, the “corporate citizenship” strategy, and the “market failures” strategy. It constitutes an attempt to develop the market failures approach to reflect on CPAs. My main claim is that within such an account, the idea that corporations have a license to operate considerably limits their right to engage in political activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre-Yves Néron, 2016. "Rethinking the Ethics of Corporate Political Activities in a Post-Citizens United Era: Political Equality, Corporate Citizenship, and Market Failures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 715-728, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:136:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2867-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2867-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong, 2021. "Responsible Firm Behaviour in Political Markets: Judging the Ethicality of Corporate Political Activity in Weak Institutional Environments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 325-345, August.
    2. Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong, 2022. "The Liability of Tribe in Corporate Political Activity: Ethical Implications for Political Contestability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 623-644, December.
    3. Stephen T. Homer & Koon Vui Yee & Kuan Siew Khor, 2023. "Developing a measurement instrument for perceived Corporate citizenship using multi-stakeholder, multi-industry and cross-country validations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 277-300, February.
    4. 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).

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