A Theory of Corporate Civic Giving

Abstract

This article analyzes one corporate boundary at which legitimation problems may arise: The relation between the corporation and the local community. I indicate how ideology and a form of symbolic behavior, corporate giving, may work as a strategy of social control for corporations. This analysis leads to a theory of corporate giving as one form of corporate civic involvement. In the theory I specify the characteristics of firms and features of their environments that make corporate giving a rational strategy for increasing corporate legitimacy. The theory is presented in the form of 10 multivariate propositions. Where it exists, the research evidence on corporate giving is used to indicate the empirical plausibility of the hypotheses.