As presidential administrations change, the messaging around corporate culture at major U.S. companies also shifts, according to a new study led by researchers at The University of New Mexico. The research, conducted by Kateryna (Kate) Holland from UNM’s Anderson School of Management and Esther Im of Washington State University, analyzes how corporate leaders adjust their communication about company values in response to different political climates.
The study, published in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis as “Corporate Culture Messaging and National Politics,” examines how firms’ discussions about values such as integrity, teamwork, innovation, quality, and respect are influenced by political alignment and national polarization.
“Corporate culture is a belief system that’s unwritten,” Holland said during a recent podcast episode. She explained that while companies often present carefully crafted messages in official documents, the real nature of their culture appears more clearly in informal communications like employee reviews or unscripted comments during earnings calls.
Holland noted that advances in artificial intelligence have enabled researchers to analyze large volumes of corporate text for patterns linked to actual company behavior. “These models let us see how firms describe their culture in ways that match real outcomes,” she said. For example, companies emphasizing innovation tend to produce more patents; those focusing on teamwork are more likely to participate in joint ventures.
The study focused on five core values—integrity, teamwork, innovation, quality, and respect—and analyzed data from 2002 through 2020. This period covered the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump and included times of both low and high political polarization.
“Basically, what we see is that these political changes are influencing how executives are talking about their corporate culture,” Holland said.
Two main trends emerged:
– When executives or firms align politically with the sitting president, they emphasize cultural values more strongly.
– When there is political misalignment with the administration, companies downplay these values and focus on neutral or product-related messaging.
“Individuals have different outlooks and levels of optimism depending on who the president is,” Holland added. She observed that Republican-leaning firms were more positive about culture during the Bush presidency but less so under Obama—while Democratic firms showed the opposite pattern.
After 2010, as political polarization increased nationally, these differences faded. “Interestingly, the period of higher political polarization makes firms more similar in terms of how they talk about corporate culture… When political polarization goes up, firms choose to talk less in general about everything that’s not directly related to their product,” Holland said.
The study found links between cultural messaging and tangible business outcomes: Companies talking more about innovation generated more patents; those highlighting quality produced better-rated products; those focusing on respect performed well in CSR and ESG rankings; teamwork was associated with joint ventures; integrity correlated with fewer SEC investigations or earnings restatements.
However, when changes in cultural messaging were driven by national politics rather than internal strategy or performance shifts, there were no corresponding changes in measurable outcomes. “We found some clear evidence of firms changing corporate culture messaging along the political dimension without changing the outcomes,” Holland stated.
For investors considering company culture as part of decision-making—including those based in New Mexico—Holland advised caution: “If you’re in New Mexico—or anywhere—and you’re factoring corporate culture into your investment decisions, take it with a grain of salt… Focus on the financial facts because that tells you what’s really happening.”
She encouraged further research into how increasing polarization affects businesses: “I would encourage others…to take a closer look at what else has changed with increases in political polarization and political alignment… There are ways to think about dialing back and bringing more unity to companies… This is an innovative area for future research.”
Holland concluded by noting that shifts in national politics affect even unwritten elements like company values: “Corporate culture is an unwritten belief system… When national politics change, the way leaders express those unwritten beliefs often changes too.”
Her work offers insight into how business practices evolve alongside broader social and political trends.
