Institution advocacy and the political behaviors of charter schools

Scholars know that institutions such as corporations and nonprofits make up much of the lobbying community, yet there is no general theory as to why these organizations, which are not primarily established for advocacy, would ever choose to do it. By integrating the literatures on advocacy in economics, sociology, and political science, the authors propose a theoretical framework using the broad dimensions of organizational mission and external environment that they test with data on charter school advocacy from a four-state survey. The results support the authors' framework and provide greater insight into advocacy choices regarding venue shopping, tactical choices, and resource allocation.