Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in U.S. Communities

Administrative Science Quarterly, 2013, 58(1): 111-148

Rotman School of Management Working Paper No. 2028982

75 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2012 Last revised: 26 Feb 2013

See all articles by András Tilcsik

András Tilcsik

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management

Christopher Marquis

Cornell University; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Date Written: February 1, 2013

Abstract

This article focuses on geographic communities as fields in which human-made and natural events occasionally disrupt the lives of organizations. We develop an institutional perspective to unpack how and why major events within communities affect organizations in the context of corporate philanthropy. To test this framework, we examine how different types of mega-events (the Olympics, the Super Bowl, political conventions) and natural disasters (such as floods and hurricanes) affected the philanthropic spending of locally headquartered Fortune 1000 firms between 1980 and 2006. Results show that philanthropic spending fluctuated dramatically as mega-events generally led to a punctuated increase in otherwise relatively stable patterns of giving by local corporations. The impact of natural disasters depended on the severity of damage: while major disasters had a negative effect, smaller-scale disasters had a positive impact. Firms’ philanthropic history and communities’ intercorporate network cohesion moderated some of these effects. This study extends the institutional and community literatures by illuminating the geographic distribution of punctuating events as a central mechanism for community influences on organizations, shedding new light on the temporal dynamics of both endogenous and exogenous punctuating events and providing a more nuanced understanding of corporate-community relations.

Keywords: communities, natural disasters, mega-events, punctuated equilibrium, corporate philanthropy, institutional theory

Suggested Citation

Tilcsik, András and Marquis, Christopher, Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in U.S. Communities (February 1, 2013). Administrative Science Quarterly, 2013, 58(1): 111-148, Rotman School of Management Working Paper No. 2028982, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2028982

András Tilcsik (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management ( email )

Canada

Christopher Marquis

Cornell University ( email )

363 Sage Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.chrismarquis.com

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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