Management Summary Research Study „Beyond lobbying regulation: the advantages of a broader approach to implementing and evaluating transparent lobbying rules“

The present article advocates adopting a broader perspective when implementing and assessing transparent lobbying regulations—an aspect often overlooked in the existing literature. Our premise is that institutions and rules serve as pivotal explanatory variables for the effective and socially acceptable allocation of scarce resources, thereby contributing to societal welfare. Consequently, it becomes imperative to scrutinise which rules should govern stakeholder interactions, including lobbying, in decision-making processes. To facilitate this exploration, we developed the Catalogue of Transparent Lobbying Environment—a comprehensive and universally applicable tool for evaluating a transparent lobbying environment. We employed this catalogue in an empirical pilot test across six Central Eastern European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). The results demonstrated that the Catalogue provides a more robust assessment of the quality of the lobbying environment. The conclusions of our article support some existing theories and hypotheses of lobbying research and rather weaken other hypotheses. We argue that further detailed research is needed on lobbying regulation and its detailed instruments in different environments, countries and conditions.

Target groups of stakeholders: researchers, practicionrers, policy makers

Citation: Laboutková, Š., Šimral, V. & Vymětal, P. Beyond lobbying regulation: the advantages of a broader approach to implementing and evaluating transparent lobbying rules. Int Groups Adv (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41309-025-00236-y

Source: Beyond lobbying regulation: the advantages of a broader approach to implementing and evaluating transparent lobbying rules | Interest Groups & Advocacy