CrossFit in the Crosshairs: A Community-Embedded Theory of Firm Responsiveness to Social Issues

How do community characteristics shape organizational responses to social issues? While existing research has focused primarily on firm-level attributes or issue characteristics, we argue that a community’s social structure systematically affects how external issues penetrate and resonate locally. We develop a theory of community permeability that links three structural features—network closure, segregation patterns, and issue connectedness—to both the local salience of social issues and subsequent firm responses. Our empirical analysis examines how thousands of locally owned CrossFit gyms in the U.S. responded to their CEO’s controversial statements following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a White police officer in 2020. Results show that issue salience was lower in communities characterized by stronger inward-focused ties and greater ethnic segregation but higher in communities more directly connected to populations affected by Floyd’s death. Firms operating in communities where the issue was more salient were more likely to respond, particularly when their dependence on community support was heightened by disruptions unrelated to the focal issue. Our study reveals how community social structure creates systematic variation in both issue salience and organizational responses, advancing understanding of when and why firms act on social issues.