Communications/Organizational Behavior Theory Meets Practice: Corporate Leaders Speak Out Against Societal/Political Issues
Increasingly, corporate leaders and their organizations are taking public stances on societal-political issues, including racial inequities and systemic racism in the United States. As such, now is the time to highlight a contemporary approach to addressing America’s societal-political concerns, which can be explained via Corporate Social Advocacy and Corporate Responsibility to Race.
The purpose of this article is to focus attention to the existence of these theories and demonstrate how they apply to corporate discourse in societal-political matters. Both theories speak to the importance of complex issues in society — from two perspectives (a communications/public relations lens, as well as an organizational studies lens, such as via leadership, issues management and corporate citizenship). Specifically, this article focuses on how corporate America reacted to revisions to voting legislation in Georgia and proposed revisions in other states. It also looks at how two influential business organizations (CEO Action for Racial Equity and the Business Roundtable) responded. Today, Corporate Social Advocacy and Corporate Responsibility to Race serve as theoretical mechanisms to assess this contemporary and emergent sense of obligation/responsibility by CEOs to speak publicly and take action to address societal-political issues.
Corporate Social Advocacy is conceptualized as the taking of a public stance on a controversial social-political issue by corporations, most often in the form of a statement by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Dodd & Supa, 2014, p. 1). Dodd and Supa said public declarations surrounding social-political issues may be proactive organizational initiatives with planned communication or unintentionally spoken by organizational leadership (prompting reactive communication) (p. 2). Corporate Social Advocacy occurs outside of a corporation’s normal sphere of Corporate Social Responsibility interests (Dodd & Supa, 2015, p. 288). Researchers Dodd and Supa have studied this theory from the lens of public perception (when a corporation and/or corporate leader speaks out) and the purchase intentions of customers (the financial consequences of taking a public stance).
Corporate Responsibility to Race is conceptualized as a new form of corporate discourse that uses corporate resources to proactively address racial tensions by illuminating the implications of racial oppression and privilege, giving voice to racial issues, and heightening public awareness of racism to foster a more just, egalitarian and harmonious society (Logan, 2019, p. 983). This theory is essentially a new form of discourse that relies on corporate resources to address racism in our society. Ultimately, it calls for corporations to “communicate in ways that advocate for racial justice, attempt to improve race relations, and support achieving a more equitable and harmonious society” (Logan, 2021, p. 1). Thus, Corporate Responsibility to Race focuses on exploring how corporations communicate to improve race relations and support racial justice (p. 7).
In many ways, these two theories are foundational to how and why corporations and corporate leaders responded in March 2021 when Georgia became the first state to change its voting laws following the 2020 presidential election, which was followed by false accusations of voter fraud by former President Donald Trump and many Republicans. Days before the Georgia law was passed, few corporations spoke against the legislation, which critics said would suppress the vote of low-income and Black voters. Shortly after the bill’s passage, the CEOs for Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines voiced their public opposition. In an interview with CNBC, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey stated: “Let me be crystal clear and unequivocal, this legislation is unacceptable” (Timm & Alexander, 2021).
CEO Ed Bastian told Delta employees the law is “unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values” (Timm & Alexander, 2021). Delta, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, shared Bastian’s statement with NBC (Timm & Alexander, 2021). Bastian also conducted several media interviews criticizing the law and Georgia’s Republican lawmakers. After being publicly criticized, the Georgia House of Representatives voted to strip Delta of a multimillion-dollar tax break (Barrabi, 2021).
In an unprecedented move, 72 Black executives signed an open letter calling for corporate America to act against restrictive voting laws (see Figure 1). The letter called for companies to fight Georgia’s bill and the wave of GOP-backed election bills that have been introduced in states nationwide, after Trump’s defeat. In all, similar revisions were proposed in 43 other states (Sorkin, Karaian, de la Merced, Hirsch, Livni, & Kessler, 2021). The letter, according to Sorkin and Gelles (2021), was one of the first times in history that so many powerful Black executives organized to stand up for a social issue.
Led by Kenneth Chenault, a former CEO of American Express, and Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck, the letter was signed by Roger Ferguson Jr., CEO of TIAA; Mellody Hobson and John Rogers Jr., the co-CEOs of Ariel Investments; Robert F. Smith, CEO of Vista Equity Partners; and Raymond McGuire, a former Citigroup executive; Ursula Burns, a former CEO of Xerox; Richard Parsons, a former chairman of Citigroup and CEO of Time Warner; Tony West, chief legal officer at Uber; and others (Sorkin & Gelles, 2021). The group of leaders, with support from the Black Economic Alliance, purchased a full-page advertisement in the March 31 edition of The New York Times (Elkind, 2021; Sorkin et al., 2021). In part, the letter reads: “As Black business leaders, we cannot sit silently in the face of this gathering threat to our nation’s democratic values and allow the fundamental right of Americans, to cast their votes for whomever they choose, to be trampled upon yet again” (Blackeconomicalliance.org, 2021).
Another display of corporate support came from CEO Action for Racial Equity, a business-led organization that is comprised of more than 100 companies and organizations from throughout the United States. By focusing on systemic racism and social injustice, CEO Action for Racial Equity mobilizes businesses and professionals across multiple industries to advance public policy in healthcare, education, economic empowerment and public safety. The organization was created in October 2020 — in response to George Floyd’s death. In response to Georgia’s bill and other proposed legislation, CEO Action for Racial Equity stated: “In allyship with the Black community, we as business leaders oppose efforts underway across the country to hinder the ability of eligible voters to exercise their right to vote, especially efforts that disproportionately impact Black Americans. We are choosing to use our voices to ask that such proposed measures be opposed” (CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, 2021).
Clearly, the public statement by CEO Action for Racial Equity — which represents the collective thoughts and opinions of the organization’s 100-plus member corporations — exemplified the basic intent and purpose of the Corporate Social Advocacy and Corporate Responsibility to Race theories, respectively. That sentiment also applies to a public statement by another corporate coalition — the Business Roundtable (BRT), which represents CEOs of the many of the nation’s leading companies. Voicing its opposition to voter suppression laws, the BRT stated: “Unnecessary restrictions on the right to vote strike at the heart of representative government. Business Roundtable members believe state laws must safeguard and guarantee the right to vote. We call on elected officials across the country to commit to bipartisan efforts to provide greater access to voting and encourage broad voter participation” (Business Roundtable, 2021).
Just as Georgia lawmakers responded with direct action against Delta, so did a prominent federal lawmaker. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chastised corporations and corporate leaders for speaking out against Georgia’s new voting law, saying they should “stay out of politics” (Jankowicz, 2021).
In conclusion, corporations and corporate leaders are taking public stances on societal-political issues. Corporate Social Advocacy and Corporate Responsibility to Race help to explain the relevance and importance of their comments and actions — either in favor or opposition of an issue. Undoubtedly, both theories acknowledged the power of CEOs and their organizations, as well as this contemporary and emergent sense of commitment by corporate leaders — certainly not all — to address some of society’s most complex and pertinent issues, including those related to voting laws and racial equity in the United States. Obviously, when CEOs speak, they leverage their authority and influence, expecting results and for people to listen — including decision makers and policy makers, who based on their actions and response would obviously prefer that corporate leaders remain silent.
References
Barrabi, T. (2021, March). Georgia House votes to strip Delta of tax break after CEO criticized voting law. Fox Business. Retrieved from: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/georgia-house-votes-strip-delta-tax-break-after-ceo-criticized-voting-law.
Blackeconomicalliance.org. (2021). Memo to Corporate America: The Fierce Urgency Is Now. [Advertisement]. New York Times. Retrieved from https://a9p9n2x2.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2021/03/BEA_3.31-E-Etear.pdf.
Business Roundtable. (2021, March 31). Business Roundtable Statement on Voting Rights. https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-statement-on-voting-rights.
CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion. (2021, April 1). Statement on the Protection of Voting Rights for the Black Community. https://www.ceoaction.com/media/press-releases/2021/statement-on-the-protection-of-voting-rights-for-the-black-community/
Dodd, M.D. & Supa, D.W. (2014). Conceptualizing and measuring “Corporate Social Advocacy” communication: Examining the impact on corporate financial performance. Public Relations Journal, 8(3), 1–23.
Dodd, M.D. & Supa, D.W. (2015). Testing the viability of Corporate Social Advocacy as a predictor of purchase intention. Communication Research Reports, 32(4), 287–293.
Elkind, E. (2021, March 31). 72 Black executives sign letter urging corporate America to stand against voter suppression. CBS News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/voter-suppression-black-executives-corporate-america/.
Jankowicz, M. (2021, April 6). Mitch McConnell told CEOs to ‘stay out of politics’ over the Georgia voting law, despite being one of the biggest recipients of corporate cash in Congress. Business Insider. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-tells-ceos-stay-out-politics-takes-corporate-cash-2021-4.
Logan, N. (2019). Corporate personhood and the Corporate Responsibility to Race. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 977–988.
Logan, N. (2021). A theory of corporate responsibility to race (CRR): communication and racial justice in public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726X.2021.1881898.
Sorkin, A.R. & Gelles, D. (2021, March 31). Black executives call on corporations to fight restrictive voting laws. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/business/voting-rights-georgia-corporations.html.
Sorkin, A.R., Karaian, J., de la Merced, M.J., Hirsch, L., Livni, E., & Kessler, S. (2021, March 31). A call to arms to fight voting restrictions. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/business/dealbook/black-ceos-voting.html.
Timm, J.C. & Alexander, B. (2021, March 31). Delta, Coca Cola CEOs blast Georgia’s ‘unacceptable’ voting law. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/based-lie-delta-ceo-blasts-georgia-s-unacceptable-voting-law-n1262610.
