Differential Firm Commitment to Industries Supported by Social Movement Organizations
研究了社会运动组织在行业中的突出程度如何影响企业对该行业的承诺，以及企业自身特征（如地理位置、信息敏感度、与活动家关联历史）如何调节这种影响，基于1990-2011年欧洲太阳能光伏制造商数据。
This article theorizes about and tests the conditions under which firms’ commitment to an industry is influenced by social movement organizations (SMOs) that favor the industry. We argue that the more prominent SMOs are within an industry, the more a firm increases its commitment to that industry by expanding its operations; yet, this main effect should be moderated substantially by a firm’s idiosyncratic characteristics. The current research predicts that a firm’s location, its sensitivity to information about the industry’s potential, and its history of associations with activists determine the magnitude of the effect of SMO prominence on its strategic commitment to the industry. We test and find support for these hypotheses using a longitudinal data set of European manufacturers of solar photovoltaic cells between 1990 and 2011. The findings offer new insights for literature on social movements and organizations, as well as strategic management research. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1170 .