Interpreting Violence: How Community Context Shapes Corporate Responses to Street Protests.
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| Title: | Interpreting Violence: How Community Context Shapes Corporate Responses to Street Protests. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Briscoe, Forrest1 (AUTHOR) fbriscoe@cornell.edu, DesJardine, Mark R.2 (AUTHOR) mark.r.desjardine@tuck.dartmouth.edu, Zhang, Muhan3 (AUTHOR) muhanzhang@cuhk.edu.hk |
| Source: | Administrative Science Quarterly. Jun2026, Vol. 71 Issue 2, p306-351. 46p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Communities, Violence, Protest movements, Organizational behavior, Social responsibility of business, Stakeholders |
| Abstract: | Violence that erupts in communities invites complex interpretations that can create a dilemma for business leaders about how to respond. Investigating how organizations respond to violence in protests, we build on the community embeddedness literature and propose that business leaders' responses to protest violence depend on their perceptions of whether the violence is justified. Leaders may view reported protest violence as evidence of either social disorder or a valid grievance in the community where the violence occurs and where their companies are headquartered. We theorize that business leaders' interpretations of violence are influenced by their community's recent history: A history of protest violence unrelated to the social cause underlying the current protest weakens the managerial perception that the social issue is relevant to the community, while a history of grievance-validating events strengthens this perception. Using hand-collected data on corporate announcements following the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, we find that firms are less likely to announce diversity actions in response to reported protest violence in communities marked by persistent violence in previous non-BLM protests, but they are more likely to do so in communities with records of more police shootings. These same community conditions also shape the effect of violence on whether firms decide to publicly endorse the movement when they announce their corporate actions. Demonstrating that violence reshapes the ways that organizations respond to protests, we discuss the implications of our findings for research on violence, social movements, and corporate activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Administrative Science Quarterly is the property of Administrative Science Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 193654838 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Interpreting Violence: How Community Context Shapes Corporate Responses to Street Protests. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Briscoe%2C+Forrest%22">Briscoe, Forrest</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> fbriscoe@cornell.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22DesJardine%2C+Mark+R%2E%22">DesJardine, Mark R.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> mark.r.desjardine@tuck.dartmouth.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhang%2C+Muhan%22">Zhang, Muhan</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> muhanzhang@cuhk.edu.hk</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Administrative+Science+Quarterly%22">Administrative Science Quarterly</searchLink>. Jun2026, Vol. 71 Issue 2, p306-351. 46p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communities%22">Communities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Violence%22">Violence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Protest+movements%22">Protest movements</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Organizational+behavior%22">Organizational behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+responsibility+of+business%22">Social responsibility of business</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Stakeholders%22">Stakeholders</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Violence that erupts in communities invites complex interpretations that can create a dilemma for business leaders about how to respond. Investigating how organizations respond to violence in protests, we build on the community embeddedness literature and propose that business leaders' responses to protest violence depend on their perceptions of whether the violence is justified. Leaders may view reported protest violence as evidence of either social disorder or a valid grievance in the community where the violence occurs and where their companies are headquartered. We theorize that business leaders' interpretations of violence are influenced by their community's recent history: A history of protest violence unrelated to the social cause underlying the current protest weakens the managerial perception that the social issue is relevant to the community, while a history of grievance-validating events strengthens this perception. Using hand-collected data on corporate announcements following the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, we find that firms are less likely to announce diversity actions in response to reported protest violence in communities marked by persistent violence in previous non-BLM protests, but they are more likely to do so in communities with records of more police shootings. These same community conditions also shape the effect of violence on whether firms decide to publicly endorse the movement when they announce their corporate actions. Demonstrating that violence reshapes the ways that organizations respond to protests, we discuss the implications of our findings for research on violence, social movements, and corporate activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Administrative Science Quarterly is the property of Administrative Science Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1177/00018392261419416 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 46 StartPage: 306 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Communities Type: general – SubjectFull: Violence Type: general – SubjectFull: Protest movements Type: general – SubjectFull: Organizational behavior Type: general – SubjectFull: Social responsibility of business Type: general – SubjectFull: Stakeholders Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Interpreting Violence: How Community Context Shapes Corporate Responses to Street Protests. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Briscoe, Forrest – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: DesJardine, Mark R. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Zhang, Muhan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 06 Text: Jun2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00018392 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 71 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Administrative Science Quarterly Type: main |
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