Twenty-Five Years of Corporate Political Activity Research in Asia: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Corporate political activity (CPA) in Asia has attracted increasing interdisciplinary attention due to the region’s shifting institutional landscape and growing geopolitical significance. However, existing literature remains fragmented across theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and empirical settings. A dominant focus on relational CPA tends to obscure Asia’s broader and evolving spectrum of political strategies, as well as ongoing debates regarding their effectiveness and outcomes. In response, this study presents the first regionally focused, systematic literature review of CPA in Asia, synthesizing 323 studies published between 2000 and 2024. It evaluates the theoretical foundations, institutional and firm-level antecedents, strategy typologies, moderators, mediators, and outcomes that characterize CPA within the Asian context. While challenging Western-centric assumptions, we propose a typology that incorporates both Asia-specific CPA strategies, such as religious and cultural engagement, party-embedded structures, and the voluntary co-optation, and globally prevalent strategies, including trade association lobbying, relational ties, and political CSR, which are institutionally adapted across diverse Asian regimes. We then employ an integrative Antecedents–Phenomenon–Consequences framework and classify CPA outcomes into three domains: firm-level, institutional, and ethical/ governance-related. This review contributes by providing theoretical insights, clarifying when and how CPA leads to different outcomes, and demonstrating how political strategies vary across institutional environments. We conclude by identifying critical research gaps and suggesting future directions to engage more critically with Asia’s institutional heterogeneity and its implications for global CPA theory and practice.