Article Abstract
Complementing research on the implications of political ties for firms’ strategic decisions and financial performance, recent studies are increasingly focusing on the environmental consequences of firms’ political connections. We contribute to this stream of work by integrating insights from the literature on political ties and the multifaceted nature of governments to explore how the level of government influences the pollution implications of firms’ political ties. Specifically, we theorize and demonstrate that, in China, firms’ achieved political ties with high levels of the government reduce pollution, while such ties with low levels of the government increase it. Furthermore, we examine how these relationships are moderated by firm owners’ social class and the attention by different levels of the government to their respective primary goals. Our analysis of data from 6,758 privately-owned Chinese enterprises provides support for our predictions. Our main conceptual contribution is to add more nuance to the research on political ties by highlighting the contingent role of the level of government in shaping firms’ pollution outcomes.
Journal of Management, August 2025
Not All Political Ties Are the Same: Firms' Ties to the Government and Pollution
About the researcher
Hari Bapuji is a Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Melbourne, Australia. His research and teaching broadly cover strategic management and international business. His current research is predominantly focused on how economic inequality affects organizations, and vice versa. He serves as a co-editor of Business & Society, a leading journal dedicated to research on issues that matter to both business and society. He is a Co-founder of Action to Improve Representation.
Dr. Bapuji has published numerous scholarly articles that appeared in leading management journals, including Academy of Management Annals, Business and Society, Harvard Business Review, Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Operations Management, and Organization Studies. Dr. Bapuji’s research is frequently recognized for its impact on business and society, and has been widely cited by hundreds of print and electronic media outlets, including New York Times, Huffington Post, Financial Times, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, Washington Post, China Daily, USA Today, Sydney Morning Herald, People’s Daily, CBC, The Globe and Mail and Straits Times.
Dr. Bapuji has won a number of awards and grants for his research and has authored cases used by tens of thousands of students around the world. He has over ten years of industry experience in information technology and human resource management. He has lived and worked in Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore.