On the absence of conservative sociopolitical activism by CEOs: Explanations and implications
分析CEO极少公开支持保守派立场而几乎总是支持自由派立场这一不对称现象，提出四种解释，包括机会较少、担心激怒自由派利益相关者、与未来导向形象不符以及CEO倾向于回避非商业辩论，并讨论其实际与学术意义。
Scholars have become increasingly interested in CEO sociopolitical activism, or instances where CEOs take public stands on heated societal debates. So far, though, researchers have largely overlooked an extraordinary imbalance in this phenomenon: In nearly all cases, CEOs have expressed support for liberal positions, and only very rarely for conservative positions. In this analytic essay, we propose four explanations for this puzzling asymmetry. First, there are fewer opportunities for conservative activism than for liberal activism. Second, CEOs may anticipate that conservative activism would agitate key liberal-leaning stakeholder groups. Third, CEOs may anticipate that supporting conservative positions would be inconsistent with conveying images of their firms as future-oriented. Fourth, CEOs tend to believe in staying out of society’s “non-business” debates. We discuss the practical and scholarly implications of our conclusions.