TESTING A MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSE TO SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES

This study developed and tested a conceptual model explaining variabil ity in the organizational structures firms develop to identify, analyz e, and respond to their social and political environments. Institution al and resource dependence theories offer plausible explanations for t hese structural differences; we tested both, finding that those explan ations are distinct but complementary. Issues management is both an in stitutional response and a strategic adaptation to external pressures. But contrary to our predictions, each theory provided only a partial explanation by accounting for particular responses. Institutional cons traints appeared to limit managerial discretion over corporate social responses. We propose a new contingency model of corporate social perf ormance based on these findings.