Entrepreneurship in the sphere of power: A multilevel analysis of institutional political interactions in the united states

Despite extensive research on the relationship between political entrepreneurship and power, the impact of the political context on corporate activities has not been fully explored. Large corporations play a crucial role in managing political and economic opportunities through coercive power (lobbying and financial contributions), persuasive power (policy formulation), and authoritative power (market position consolidation). This study employs analysis of variance (ANOVA) on data from publicly traded U.S. companies from 2001 to 2019 to examine the impact of different levels of power (industry, corporation, executives) on corporate actions (lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions) and government actions (government contracts). The samples were categorized based on the control of key branches of government by Democrats or Republicans. The results revealed that the corporate level explained the most variance, followed by the industry level and then the executive level. However, the influence of power significantly varied with political changes throughout the study period. The findings of this study have important implications for future research on the role of power in shaping corporate opportunities and theorizing political entrepreneurship. They contribute to a better understanding of how persuasive and authoritative powers operate in corporate influence under changing political contexts.