2021-Yerzhan Tokbolat
Say on corporate political spending: empirical evidence from the UK
Dr Yerzhan Tokbolat, Queen’s University Belfast - Say on corporate political spending: empirical evidence from the UK
Project Summary: Corporate political party funding has always been a controversial issue. Public mistrust of political funding is fuelled by the perception that corporations and individuals behind them use corporate funds to exert influence over political parties, while shareholders are concerned if funds are used in the best interest of their company. This study provides a historical investigation of political donations made by large publicly listed firms in the UK since 1967 and examines determinants of shareholder votes on political donations between 2001 and 2021. We find that political donations decreased after the introduction of regulatory changes requiring disclosure and shareholder approval. We also find that shareholders show dissatisfaction with their managers donating funds to political organisations, as seen by their dissent votes. Shareholder dissent is also found to be positively related to the amount of charitable donations raising the issue of regulations in charitable contributions.