Differentiating via Commitment in Corporate Sociopolitical Involvement

Corporate participation in the public political sphere has drastically increased over the last decade. With this increase in participating firms comes an increased risk of sincere efforts by some firms being conflated with symbolic management. To understand how firms might differentiate themselves among a growing crowd, this study examines corporate sociopolitical involvement in June 2020 after George Floyd’s death. Using mixed methods, the paper looks at variance in both sequence and content of corporate statements. Findings indicate that firms with patterns of prior activism are more likely to be among the first to act. These first-movers also use tactics that signal sincerity through greater commitment to the issue at hand. The paper provides a perspective and measure for examining differentiation in corporate sociopolitical involvement.