Who Needs the Government? An Analysis of Managerial Ability and Corporate Political Activity

Firms engage in corporate political activity in an attempt to have a voice in the policy conversation. In recent years, CEOs have also increasingly become involved in corporate political activity. This paper investigates how CEO general ability affects the breadth of a company's lobbying efforts, and how this relationship is moderated by the company's performance feedback. Our findings indicate that CEO general ability is related to the breadth of lobbying efforts of a company in a curvilinear relationship, and that the gap between the company's performance aspirations and actual performance moderates this relationship. These results have important implications for understanding the role of CEO ability in shaping corporate political activity.