Many multinational corporations develop business operations in Europe. The current research attempts to fill the gap on how corporations can increase their political influence in this geography by exploring the joint effect of corporate political activity (CPA) and social responsibility (CSR) on political embeddedness and financial performance. Based on institutional theory and on a sample of autochthonous (European Union [EU]) and allochthonous (non‐EU) firms with declared EU lobbying (from 2008 to 2019) we conducted two studies. Based on a multi‐level model, Study 1 finds strong and robust evidence that boardroom gender diversity and EU lobbyists interactively increase EU political embeddedness. Complementarily, Study 2, which relies on general linear Modeling, suggests that allochthonous corporations are more profitable when they display high‐level political embeddedness and lobbying expenditures, combined with adoption of United Nations (UN) guidelines. Overall, findings show that lobbying in Europe pays off, especially when corporations strive to be aligned with EU ethical values and aspirations. Hiring lobbyists to be based in Brussels and promoting gender equality help establish EU political connections. Subsequently, findings highlight the role that EU political embeddedness, lobbying expenditures, and UN guidelines play in leveraging financial performance, especially across non‐EU corporations. Regarding EU corporations, results show that a firm‐level investment on CPA‐CSR is particularly important. Overall, findings from this research support corporations that are growing businesses in Europe.

中文翻译：

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欧盟整合企业社会责任和政治活动的多层次模型：对外国公司有何制度影响？

许多跨国公司在欧洲开展业务。当前的研究试图通过探索企业政治活动（CPA）和社会责任（CSR）对政治嵌入和财务绩效的共同影响，来填补企业如何在该地区增加政治影响力的空白。基于制度理论和公开游说欧盟的本土（欧盟 [EU]）和异地（非欧盟）企业样本（2008 年至 2019 年），我们进行了两项研究。基于多层次模型，研究 1 发现了强有力的证据，表明董事会性别多样性和欧盟游说者互动地增强了欧盟的政治嵌入性。作为补充，依赖于一般线性模型的研究 2 表明，当异地公司表现出高水平的政治嵌入性和游说支出，并结合联合国 (UN) 准则的采用时，它们的利润会更高。总体而言，调查结果表明，在欧洲的游说是有回报的，特别是当企业努力与欧盟道德价值观和愿望保持一致时。雇用说客驻扎布鲁塞尔并促进性别平等有助于建立欧盟政治联系。随后，调查结果强调了欧盟政治嵌入、游说支出和联合国指导方针在利用财务业绩方面发挥的作用，尤其是非欧盟企业的财务业绩。对于欧盟企业，结果表明企业层面对 CPA-CSR 的投资尤为重要。总体而言，这项研究的结果支持了在欧洲发展业务的公司。