The Dominance of Institutions in Interest Representation: A Test of Seven Explanations

Theory: This paper uses population ecology theory to account for variance in the dominance of institutions within lobbying communities, dominance first noted by Salisbury (1984). Hypothesis: We extract seven explanations from the literature on interest representation and organization ecology to account for variation in the dominance of institutions within interest communities. Method: OLS regression and ordered logit are employed to test the explanations using two sets of data on interest organizations in the American states: aggregate data on all 50 states and survey data on institutions registered to lobby in six states. Results: Empirical support is found for five of the seven explanations. We discuss the implications of these explanations for understanding how interest communities are constructed.