Comparative lobbying research: advances, shortcomings and recommendations

Abstract

This review article suggests that there is a new school of comparative lobbying emerging. However, this development is taking place only gradually. Unlike the earlier studies, which studied corporatism/pluralism, outside lobbying and lobbying regulations, the new comparativists are mainly focusing on inside lobbying strategies and success as a function of country-level factors. Yet, the literature still suffers from underdeveloped theories. I stress that our knowledge can be improved with better theorizing. Better theories, in turn, can be formulated by improving the use of quantitative data gathering, qualitative research, formal models and better communication between researchers working with different methodologies in different disciplines.

Politically valued resources and preferred outcomes: Does the political context matter?

“…For legislators, lobbying influence is commonly cited as a primary goal in government interactions (Choi et al, ; Hillman & Hitt, ). There is a substantial literature on comparative lobbying that suggests the terms policymakers and legislators are used interchangeably (see Kanol, ). Firm lobbying efforts are focused on these actors, whose motivations include winning elections, regaining in office, or crafting policies that avoid negative consequences (Bernhagen, ).…”

“…Firm lobbying efforts are focused on these actors, whose motivations include winning elections, regaining in office, or crafting policies that avoid negative consequences (Bernhagen, ). Even in countries where parties are stronger than individual legislators, lobbyists focus on early stage party policy making (Kanol, ), which implies a focus on legislators. Even where policymakers are not elected, such as the European Union (or autocratic regimes), lobbying occurs during the policy‐making process (Mahoney, ).…”

Firm-level political capabilities and subsequent financial performance

“…Lobbying may also form the basis of a political capability (Dahan, ; Lux et al ., ). Lobbying (Pinske ; Kanol, ) is a mechanism that exerts influence on an existing political authority. The authority may be an elected politician or an appointed regulator (McKay, ; McGrath, ).…”

AT&T's establishment of a political capability

“…There is a robust literature on corporate political activity (CPA) from both a theoretical and empirical viewpoint that addresses the antecedent conditions of the phenomenon (Hillman & Wan, ), the results to such behavior (Hadani & Schuler, ) and cross‐cultural nature of differing political techniques (Kostyaev, ; Kanol, ). However, at a practical level, many of the academic work in the area of corporate political activity abstracts away from the ground level activities that firms must employ in order to compete in the “non‐market.” This case study takes a different approach by modeling the specific activities that firms must undertake in order to compete along political lines.…”