The Contingent Value of Corporate Political Ties

Developing and nurturing links with political actors and institutions constitutes an important component of a firm's overall nonmarket strategy. This paper focuses on corporate political ties, which are boundary-spanning personal and institutional linkages between firms and the constituent parts of public authorities. To help address the inconsistency of past research findings on the value of corporate political ties, we offer a contingency perspective by developing an integrative framework incorporating market environment, nonmarket environment, and interorganizational and intraorganizational factors that condition the value of corporate political ties, and identify potential operating mechanisms that may erode their value for a focal firm. We conclude by developing suggestions for a future research agenda.