IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cbscwp/336740.html

NGO activism: Exposure vs. influence

Author

Listed:
  • Fioretti, Michele
  • Saint-Jean, Victor
  • Smith, Simon C.

Abstract

We examine how NGOs time campaigns to influence corporate decisions at Annual General Meetings (AGMs). Using data on 2,500 U.S. campaigns, we find that NGOs often campaign on the AGM date, which increases media exposure and future shareholder proposals but does not affect current AGM votes or consumers. As NGOs gain reputational capital, they shift to earlier pre-AGM campaigns to support related shareholder proposals and directly improve corporate behavior. The evidence underscores a strategic trade-off between visibility and influence, showing how NGO tactics evolve with NGOs' credibility and the changing expectations of socially conscious stakeholders about NGO activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fioretti, Michele & Saint-Jean, Victor & Smith, Simon C., 2025. "NGO activism: Exposure vs. influence," Working Papers 373, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:336740
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/336740/1/1949600106.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1982. "Limit Pricing and Entry under Incomplete Information: An Equilibrium Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 443-459, March.
    2. Malcolm Baker & Mark L. Egan & Suproteem K. Sarkar, 2022. "Demand for ESG," NBER Working Papers 30708, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Giné & Maria Guadalupe, 2016. "Say Pays! Shareholder Voice and Firm Performance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1799-1834.
    4. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2020. "Simple Local Polynomial Density Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(531), pages 1449-1455, July.
    5. Jean Tirole & Roland Bénabou, 2006. "Incentives and Prosocial Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1652-1678, December.
    6. Koenig, Pamina & Poncet, Sandra, 2022. "The effects of the Rana Plaza collapse on the sourcing choices of French importers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    7. Olga Hawn & Ioannis Ioannou, 2016. "Mind the gap: The interplay between external and internal actions in the case of corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2569-2588, December.
    8. Julia Cage & Dorothée Rouzet, 2015. "Improving “National Brands”: Reputation for Quality and Export Promotion Strategies," SciencePo Working papers hal-01167909, HAL.
    9. Koenig, Pamina & Poncet, Sandra, 2019. "Social responsibility scandals and trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Caroline Flammer, 2018. "Competing for government procurement contracts: The role of corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1299-1324, May.
    11. Cagé, Julia & Rouzet, Dorothée, 2015. "Improving “national brands”: Reputation for quality and export promotion strategies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 274-290.
    12. Baur, Dorothea & Palazzo, Guido, 2011. "The Moral Legitimacy of NGOs as Partners of Corporations," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 579-604, October.
    13. Michele Fioretti, 2022. "Caring or Pretending to Care? Social Impact, Firms’ Objectives, and Welfare," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(11), pages 2898-2942.
    14. Luis M.B. Cabral, 2000. "Stretching Firm and Brand Reputation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(4), pages 658-673, Winter.
    15. Anita M. McGahan, 2023. "The New Stakeholder Theory on Organizational Purpose," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 245-255, June.
    16. Berg, Florian & Heeb, Florian & Kölbel, Julian, 2024. "The economic impact of ESG ratings," SAFE Working Paper Series 439, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    17. Shu, Chong, 2024. "The proxy advisory industry: Influencing and being influenced," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Marianne Bertrand & Matilde Bombardini & Raymond Fisman & Francesco Trebbi, 2020. "Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(7), pages 2065-2102, July.
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2si2or72bc8ed899298h75877i is not listed on IDEAS
    20. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    21. Gine, Mireia & Moussawi, Rabih & Sedunov, John, 2017. "Governance mechanisms and effective activism: Evidence from shareholder proposals on poison pills," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 185-202.
    22. Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2003. "The Rise of the Regulatory State," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(2), pages 401-425, June.
    23. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    24. Kreps, David M. & Wilson, Robert, 1982. "Reputation and imperfect information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 253-279, August.
    25. Marianne Bertrand & Matilde Bombardini & Raymond Fisman & Brad Hackinen & Francesco Trebbi, 2021. "Hall of Mirrors: Corporate Philanthropy and Strategic Advocacy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 2413-2465.
    26. Doron Levit & Nadya Malenko, 2011. "Nonbinding Voting for Shareholder Proposals," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1579-1614, October.
    27. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2019. "The Rise of NGO Activism," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 183-212, November.
    28. Georgy Egorov & Bård Harstad, 2017. "Private Politics and Public Regulation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1652-1682.
    29. Andreas Madestam & Daniel Shoag & Stan Veuger & David Yanagizawa-Drott, 2013. "Do Political Protests Matter? Evidence from the Tea Party Movement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1633-1685.
    30. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Keusch, Thomas, 2020. "Dancing with activists," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 1-41.
    31. Sakis Kotsantonis & George Serafeim, 2019. "Four Things No One Will Tell You About ESG Data," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 31(2), pages 50-58, June.
    32. repec:hal:journl:hal-00565517 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Pamina Koenig & Sandra Poncet, 2022. "The effects of the Rana Plaza collapse on the sourcing choices of French importers [Economie Internationale]," Post-Print hal-03557320, HAL.
    34. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    35. Anita M. McGahan & Leandro S. Pongeluppe, 2023. "There Is No Planet B: Aligning Stakeholder Interests to Preserve the Amazon Rainforest," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(12), pages 7860-7881, December.
    36. Bouton, Laurent & Llorente-Saguer, Aniol & Macé, Antonin & Meirowitz, Adam & Pi, Shaoting & Xefteris, Dimitrios, 2022. "Public Information as a Source of Disagreement Among Shareholders," CEPR Discussion Papers 17736, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    37. Sophie Hatte & Pamina Koenig, 2020. "The Geography of NGO Activism against Multinational Corporations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 143-163.
    38. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    39. Marianne Bertrand & Matilde Bombardini & Francesco Trebbi, 2014. "Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(12), pages 3885-3920, December.
    40. Cabral, Luís M.B., 2009. "Umbrella branding with imperfect observability and moral hazard," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 206-213, March.
    41. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    42. Timothy Besley & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2005. "Competition and Incentives with Motivated Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 616-636, June.
    43. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2022. "Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7221-7247, October.
    44. George E. Mitchell & Sarah S. Stroup, 2017. "The reputations of NGOs: Peer evaluations of effectiveness," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 397-419, September.
    45. Birger Wernerfelt, 1988. "Umbrella Branding as a Signal of New Product Quality: An Example of Signalling by Posting a Bond," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(3), pages 458-466, Autumn.
    46. David P. Baron, 2010. "Morally Motivated Self-Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1299-1329, September.
    47. Guido Tabellini, 2008. "The Scope of Cooperation: Values and Incentives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 905-950.
    48. Michele Fioretti & Victor Saint-Jean & Simon C. Smith, 2021. "The Shared Costs of Pursuing Shareholder Values," Papers 2103.12138, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.
    49. Bonnefon, Jean-François & Landier, Augustin & Sastry, Parinitha & Thesmar, David, 2025. "The moral preferences of investors: Experimental evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    50. Yannis Bakos & Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2011. "Cooperation Without Enforcement? A Comparative Analysis of Litigation and Online Reputation as Quality Assurance Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(11), pages 1944-1962, November.
    51. Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1093-1135, June.
    52. Ricardo Perez-Truglia & Guillermo Cruces, 2017. "Partisan Interactions: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(4), pages 1208-1243.
    53. Luís Cabral & Ali Hortaçsu, 2010. "The Dynamics Of Seller Reputation: Evidence From Ebay," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 54-78, March.
    54. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Brian McManus, 2010. "A Greater Price for a Greater Good? Evidence That Consumers Pay More for Charity-Linked Products," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 28-60, May.
    55. Bertrand, Marianne & Bombardini, Matilde & Fisman, Raymond & Trebbi, Francesco & Yegen, Eyub, 2023. "Investing in Influence: Investors, Portfolio Firms, and Political Giving," CEPR Discussion Papers 17843, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Michele Fioretti & Victor Saint-Jean & Simon C. Smith, 2021. "The Shared Costs of Pursuing Shareholder Values," Papers 2103.12138, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2019. "The Rise of NGO Activism," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 183-212, November.
    2. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    3. Herkenhoff, Philipp & Krautheim, Sebastian, 2022. "The international organization of production in the regulatory void," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Michele Fioretti, 2022. "Caring or Pretending to Care? Social Impact, Firms' Objectives, and Welfare (former title: Social Responsibility and Firm's Objectives)," Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers hal-03393065, HAL.
    5. Elisa Navarra, 2022. "Stock Market Response to Firms’ Misconduct," Working Papers ECARES 2022-40, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Michele Fioretti & Victor Saint-Jean & Simon C. Smith, 2021. "The Shared Costs of Pursuing Shareholder Values," Papers 2103.12138, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.
    8. Koenig, Pamina & Krautheim, Sebastian & Löhnert, Claudius & Verdier, Thierry, 2025. "Local global watchdogs: Trade, sourcing and the internationalization of social activism," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    11. Jeanine Miklós-Thal, 2012. "Linking reputations through umbrella branding," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 335-374, September.
    12. Jungju Yu, 2021. "A Model of Brand Architecture Choice: A House of Brands vs. A Branded House," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 147-167, January.
    13. Seungho Choi & Raphael Jonghyeon & Simon Xu, 2023. "The Strategic Use of Corporate Philanthropy: Evidence from Bank Donations," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(5), pages 1883-1930.
    14. Witold J. Henisz & Sinziana Dorobantu & Lite J. Nartey, 2014. "Spinning gold: The financial returns to stakeholder engagement," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1727-1748, December.
    15. Steve Martin, 2019. "Moral management in competitive markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 541-560, June.
    16. Haram Seo & Jiao Luo & Aseem Kaul, 2021. "Giving a little to many or a lot to a few? The returns to variety in corporate philanthropy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1734-1764, September.
    17. Chen, Liming & Dai, Tao & Zhang, Chen & Zhang, Zhi, 2025. "Digital government and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Pouget, Sébastien & Brodback, Daniel & Guenster, Nadja & Wang, Ruichen, 2025. "Investor Valuation for Socially Responsible Assets: A Willingness to Pay Experiment," TSE Working Papers 2025-1683, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    19. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Sinziana Dorobantu & Aseem Kaul & Bennet Zelner, 2017. "Nonmarket strategy research through the lens of new institutional economics: An integrative review and future directions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 114-140, January.
    20. Mathias Dewatripont & Jean Tirole, 2022. "The Morality of Markets," Working Papers ECARES 2022-35, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    21. Miklos-Thal, Jeanine, 2008. "Linking Reputations: The Signaling and Feedback Effects of Umbrella Branding," MPRA Paper 11045, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Krautheim, Sebastian & Verdier, Thierry, 2016. "Offshoring with endogenous NGO activism," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 22-41.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:336740. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsuchus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.