Navigating Political Polarization: Organizational Challenges and Strategic Responses
Date: Sunday, August 11. Time: 4:45-6:15 pm CT (UTC-5)
Room: Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park - Embassy Room
The symposium showcases current research projects on how political polarization shapes firms' strategies and performance. While most attention has focused on the societal repercussions of political polarization, far less research has focused on its impact on organizational strategies and outcomes. By spanning theoretical traditions and levels of analyses, the papers assembled in this symposium tackle this question, examining how polarization reshapes stakeholder relationships and corporate nonmarket strategies, influencing economic outcomes and presenting new challenges for firms navigating these shifts. They also explore how organizational practices spread in a polarized context, challenging the notion that institutionalization leads to uniformity. Finally, they offer new insights on how countermovements unfold within polarized sociopolitical contexts, strategically targeting and influencing corporations.
Discussant: Forrest Briscoe, ILR School, Cornell University
1. Strategic Silence? Engagement and Critique Dynamics in Relation to Polarizing Social Issues: Theory and Evidence from Georgia's Election Integrity Act
- Christopher Bruno, The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania
- Tyler Wry, The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania
- J. Adam Cobb, U. of Texas at Austin
- Timothy Werner, U. of Texas at Austin
2. Benefiting from Culture Wars: The Success of Entrepreneurial Ventures in Contested Issue Domains
- Ludovica Castiglia, IESE Business School
- Fabrizio Ferraro, IESE Business School
3. How Social Upheaval Shaped DEI Hiring Practices: Evidence from over 21 Million Job
Postings and Hires
- Aharon Cohen Mohliver, London Business School
- Grady Raines, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
4. The Counter-Mobilization of the Anti-ESG Movement
- Tony L. He, Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick
- Kate Odziemkowska, The Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
- Witold Henisz, The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania
See you there!!
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Ludovica Castiglia
IESE Business School
lcastiglia@iese.edu------------------------------