Strategic generosity: the business of political contributions

The authors investigate the motivations behind corporate political contributions using a new survey methodology using AI-generated agents (“Digital Executives”) representing S&P 500 CEOs. Surveying 4,600 AI-generated agents, the authors find that executives primarily view political contributions as strategic investments that extract economic value and secure critical information to navigate policy landscapes. These motivations dominate rationales related to institutional legitimacy or agency considerations, particularly in the high political uncertainty environments perceived by the agents. The authors’ results provide direct evidence of the drivers of corporate political strategy under uncertainty, highlighting the critical roles of value capture and information acquisition.