This study aims to provide insight into public affairs professionals’ role conceptions and perceived influence on political decision making. We conducted a quantitative online survey with 238 corporate public affairs professionals in Germany who worked either “in-house” at a corporation, for an industry association, or in a public affairs consultancy firm. Based on their main stakeholder orientation (clients, political actors, or society) and primary objectives (mediator, expert, or advocate), a cluster analysis categorized the professionals into four main roles: persuaders, advisors, coordinators, and mediators. Although acting in line with ethical norms and being transparent about their practices were deemed important for all roles, there were differences regarding the balancing of positions and loyalty toward the client. Finally, a regression analysis showed that financial resources, information sovereignty, and ethical considerations were the strongest predictors of public affairs professionals’ perceived influence on political decisions. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

本研究旨在深入了解公共事务专业人员的角色概念以及对政治决策的感知影响。我们对德国的238位公司公共事务专业人员进行了定量在线调查，这些专业人员在公司，行业协会或公共事务咨询公司中“内部”工作。基于主要利益相关者的取向（客户，政治行为者或社会）和主要目标（调解人，专家或拥护者），聚类分析将专业人员分为四个主要角色：说服者，顾问，协调员和调解人。尽管遵守道德规范并透明地遵守其行为被认为对所有角色都很重要，但在平衡职位和对客户的忠诚度方面仍存在差异。最后，回归分析表明，财务资源，信息主权和道德考量是公共事务专业人员对政治决策影响的最强预测指标。讨论了对未来研究的意义和途径。