Linking Corporate Community Programs and Political Strategies: A Resource-Based View

This article examines the relationship between an aspect of a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate community programs (CCPs), and the effectiveness of its corporate political activity (CPA). Developing a conceptual model based on resource-based view of the firm, the authors argue that the mechanism linking a firm’s CCP to CPA mechanism is the effect of CCPs on the development of firm level resources. Specifically, the intensity of a firm’s CCPs enhances a firm’s human capital, organizational capital, and geographic resources, which in turn improve the effectiveness of two key aspects of CPA: information and constituency-building political strategies. This linkage of CCPs to CPA effectiveness may be particularly relevant when the firm faces unfavorable political markets.