Dive Brief:
- Do employees lean in the direction of senior management in deciding who they will vote for or contribute to in a presidential election? They do, if the results of a new research study are accurate, according to Fortune.
- Researchers at Arizona State University, Bocconi University (Milan, Italy) and the University of Lugano (Switzerland) analyzed how chief executive officers can bend employee political candidate perceptions and discovered employees contributed nearly triple the amount to political candidates supported by their employer’s CEO.
- The study results also showed that the effect of CEO contributions is strongest among CEOs with political connections, as those companies often have individual political action committees (PAC) and operate in heavily regulated industries, Fortune reports.
Dive Insight:
“The CEO’s support of particular candidates may be viewed by employees as implicit political advice, particularly if employees are ignorant about politics, do not know who their representatives are, or do not know what policies they plan to implement,” the study authors wrote.
Workplace election issues and debates are hardly new, but with this year's election heading into very contentious territory, a CEO leaning on employees to vote or contribute in a certain direction would be especially problematic. It seems HR leaders should provide counsel to their senior managers if that type of communication is considered.