Abstract

The article focuses on the management of public affairs. The American public distrusts political action committees (PAC) and considers them harmful to the nation's democratic political process. This negative reaction is independent of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, political ideology, and party affiliation, but is highly correlated with optimism about the future and confidence in the nation's political, legal, and economic institutions and their leaders. The findings of this study suggest that business must undertake substantive and communications related measures to improve public perception of PAC activities if it is to maintain societal legitimacy in its involvement in the political process. The two sets of intervening variables that have strong bearing on people's attitudes toward PACs are attitudinal variables and can be influenced by corporate action not only in the area of PACs but in almost every other area where corporations interact with various segments of the population. In developing strategies of communication, corporations should not use mass communication indiscriminately but should carefully select target audiences and communicate messages that take into account their relative intensity on these variables.