Dear Colleagues,
Our next virtual seminar in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy Research series is Wednesday, February 4 from 11:00-12:00 ET. Jue (Kate) Wang (Penn State University) - will present "Anchoring Risk in the Participatory Regulation Process: How Engaging Risk-Bearing Stakeholders Shapes Lobbying Effectiveness". Abstract is below. Click the link HERE to register for the February 4th seminar.
We hope you join us!
- Tim Folta (UCONN), Maryann Feldman (ASU), and Supradeep Dutta (Rutgers U)
Abstract: Firms seeking favorable regulations for new technologies have traditionally built political support by emphasizing benefits and mobilizing stakeholders who stand to gain, which is a strategy that proved effective when regulators relied primarily on expert input and closed-door lobbying. As regulatory processes become more participatory, however, risk-bearing stakeholders gain direct access to regulators and shape problem definitions, such that benefit-focused lobbying becomes insufficient when firms cannot credibly address the risks these stakeholders foreground. Drawing on research in the social construction of technology and problem definition in policy making, this paper theorizes that firms can sustain regulatory influence in participatory settings by stabilizing early problem definitions around stakeholder-defined risks that their technologies can credibly address. By anchoring regulatory discourse to these risks, firms establish evaluative reference points that shape how regulators assess subsequent policy proposals, with anchoring proving most effective when firms possess strong reputational legitimacy and closely align with risk-bearing stakeholder framings. Evidence from drone firms' regulatory narratives during FAA rulemaking (2014-2020) supports this framework. The findings show how participatory regulation reshapes political influence by shifting firms' nonmarket strategies from benefit-focused advocacy toward early-stage problem definition centered on risk-bearing stakeholders.
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