"In the early 2020s, most prominent activist statements made by CEOs supported progressive causes. The term "CEO activism" was primarily associated with statements in favor of stricter gun laws, expanded LGBT+ rights, and support for the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements, for example. Elon Musk, whom we only briefly mentioned in our paper, had just begun to take overt political stances in favor of the Republican Party."
"The situation changed drastically with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when Musk took CEO activism to new heights by using his platform X to inundate his 200+ million followers with pro-Trump messages. Since then, several other corporate leaders, such as Stephen Schwarzman, have publicly endorsed Trump's politics, thereby bringing right-wing CEO activism into the spotlight. The latest is Marc Benioff, who praised Trump for "doing a great job" and supported his decision to deploy the National Guard in San Francisco, before partially backtracking."
In the early 2020s, prominent CEO activism largely supported progressive causes such as stricter gun laws, expanded LGBT+ rights, and backing for #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. The 2024 U.S. presidential election produced a marked shift as Elon Musk used X to broadcast pro-Trump messages to over 200 million followers and other corporate leaders publicly endorsed Trump. Right-wing CEO activism moved into the spotlight, with some leaders later partially backtracking. Scholarly perspectives shifted from generally positive views within management literature toward increased concern about the democratic implications of CEO political statements.
Read at Apaonline
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]