The Contingent Effect of Patriotic Rhetoric on Firm Performance

Drawing on resource-dependence logic, we frame a firm’s use of patriotic rhetoric as a strategy for absorbing external resource constraints. We argue that strong nationalist sentiment positively influences the performance effect of using patriotic rhetoric, whereas a firm’s involvement in overseas markets negatively influences this effect. To test our hypotheses, we capture U.S. firms’ patriotic rhetoric using earnings calls and press releases...