Corporate political activity has never been properly operationalized as a measurable construct

Evidence

However, in order to use the resource-based view in combination with any path-dependence argument, it would be necessary to measure investments in CPA-related resources. So far, indirect indicators such as spending on political action committees have been used in research to measure the level of CPA on a firm level. A conceptualization and operationalization of CPA as a theoretical construct has not yet been established in the literature (for initial research on this topic see Siedentopp, 2007a; Siedentopp, 2009). Therefore, one key challenge of this chapter is to operationalize the CPA construct on the basis of Dahan’s (2005b) typology in order to evaluate path dependence through CPA. — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 358

Categorization

• QUESTION: How exactly does the chapter operationalize CPA from Dahan’s typology — and can indirect proxies like PAC spending ever capture it?