In Good Company? Corporate Social Responsibility and Political Access in the UK

Research has consistently shown that business actors in the UK and other democracies devote more resources to political lobbying and are consistently over-represented among the groups that policymakers meet and take advice from. There is less research on which firms engage in the political process and succeed in gaining access to policymakers. We examine a potential determinant of corporate political access that has received only limited attention, a firm’s reputation for social responsibility. While numerous studies suggest that a firms’ reputation for corporate social responsibility can help the organization maintain good relations with its customers, employees, and investors, surprisingly little research has examined how this reputation for responsibility affects firms’ relations with policymakers. To address this question, we created a database that tracks the number of meetings FTSE 350 companies had with UK ministry officials across government as well as the number of times these companies gave invited testimony to the committees of the UK parliament between 2010 to 2017. We further collected data on the firms’ environmental, social and governance ratings and media reported scandals to gauge their socio-political reputation. We use multivariate statistical modelling to determine the extent to which firms’ reputation for responsibility translates into political access. We identify a clear, positive relationship between ESG ratings and company access to policymakers and demonstrate that the effects of a company’s reputation vary across legislative and executive venues. We complement this quantitative analysis with interviews with 20 UK public officials to gain insight into why a company’s reputation for social responsibility is valued by policymakers.