Pathways of stakeholder influence in the Canadian forestry industry

We draw on the stakeholder influence literature to propose and empirically test hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect pathways of perceived influence that stakeholders exercise within the domain of corporate sustainability. Our results allow us to examine the interaction between different types of stakeholder pressure and different types of stakeholder influence strategy. We show that stakeholders who do not control resources critical to the focal firm's operations are able to pressure a firm indirectly via other stakeholders on whose resources the firm is dependent. We contribute to the stakeholder perspective by showing how stakeholders who are affected by the focal firm's operations can enhance their salience via stakeholders who can affect the firm. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Power of Stakeholders' Voice: The Effects of Social Media Activism on Stock Markets

Building on social movement theory, this study assesses the influence of social media activism on the stock market performance of targeted firms. We focus on information published on Twitter by two critical stakeholders: consumer associations and trade unions. To the extent that social media represent a valid medium to mobilize stakeholders' activism, protests on Twitter may damage firm reputation, leading to capital market reactions. Using a corpus of over 1.5 million tweets referring to Spanish listed banks, we study the impact of activism by looking at targeted firms' abnormal variations in price and trading volume. Our findings suggest that the Twitter activism of key stakeholders has a significant impact on investors' decisions. Further, our empirical analyses indicate that the mechanisms affecting investors' behavior differ depending on the characteristics of the stakeholder group. Hence, this study contributes to understanding how social movements influence corporate behavior via social media. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Our Collaborative Future: Activities and Roles of Stakeholders in Sustainability‐Oriented Innovation

While stakeholders have long been at the forefront of sustainable development debates, the emphases have tended to be on different stakeholder pressures, or managing stakeholder expectations about controversial issues. In this paper we bring a fresh direction to these debates and ask in what ways different stakeholders can contribute to sustainable innovation in firms. Based on 80 semi‐structured interviews, we conduct a fine‐grained qualitative analysis of stakeholder activities in sustainability‐oriented innovation (SOI) processes in 13 different companies across Europe. Our analysis identifies eight roles that stakeholders play in SOI processes: stimulator, initiator, broker/mediator, concept refiner, legitimator, educator, context enabler and impact extender. More traditional roles such as legitimator and educator are less common in our cases. However, emerging roles such as stimulator, concept refiner, context enabler and impact extender are clearly identifiable and could be particularly valuable for SOI. We enhance a collaborative perspective of stakeholder theory, finding that stakeholders can play highly collaborative and proactive roles, and argue that secondary stakeholders may actually be more relevant for SOI than primary stakeholders. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Stakeholder management in sustainable supply chains: A case study of the bioenergy industry

Engaging with stakeholders and managing their issues when striving for a sustainable supply chain (SC) is a significant challenge. Although most studies on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) consider stakeholder management necessary, little is known about related stakeholder management practices in SSCM. Thus, this paper seeks to enrich the theoretical debate on stakeholder management practices in SSCM through a case study approach to bioenergy SCs in Chile. Based on 28 interviews with SC actors and representatives from the surrounding stakeholder environment, the deductive–inductive analysis reveals that stakeholder management combines different practices to discuss stakeholder concerns, address them, and evaluate the process at the SC's external and internal levels. We propose structuring these practices based on two dimensions: “practices to address stakeholder requirements” and “practices whereby stakeholders are integrated.” The analysis' results indicate that although two-way communication with stakeholders can be seen as the core of stakeholder management, a certain willingness to learn and transform SC design is a prerequisite for true orientation toward stakeholder management in SSCM. Additionally, linkage development and local anchoring are practices used to obtain further legitimacy at the external level. Building on these findings, this study can guide practitioners in engaging with stakeholders and managing their issues across the SC.     

Modelling Corporate Stakeholder Orientation: Does the Relationship Between Stakeholder Background Characteristics and Corporate Social Performance Matter?

Though corporate stakeholder orientation is connected with corporate social performance practices, there is a dearth of knowledge on the theorized assertion that background characteristics influence stakeholders’ salience and attitude towards social performance practices of firms. The aim of this paper is to measure and examine this hypothesis. To test this claim, this research uses the Surat Resource Region in Queensland, Australia, as the case study. Based on the bivariate test, age, gender, occupation type and educational status have varying statistically significant effects on stakeholders’ attitude towards corporate social practices. The multinomial logistic findings showed that only education retained a net effect on a stakeholder's attitude to participation in corporate social practices, where those with a higher level of education are 1.388 times more likely to perceive stakeholder engagement practices as relevant, 2.864 times more likely for social impact assessment practices and 1.430 times more likely for practices aimed at rights of indigenous communities. Findings imply the need for awareness programs to be incorporated into corporate social practices, which can help promote the success of stakeholder‐oriented policies. The paper further makes suggestions that have both business strategy and policy planning implications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Maintaining Legitimacy: Controversies,Orders of Worth,and Public Justifications

We build on Boltanski and Thévenot's theory of justification to account for the ways in which different stakeholder groups actively engage with discourses and objects to maintain the legitimacy of institutions that are relevant to their activity. We use this framework to analyse a controversy emerging from a nuclear accident which involved a large European energy company and sparked public debate on the legitimacy of nuclear power. Based on the findings, we elaborate a process model of institutional repair that explains the role of agents and the structural constraints they face in attempting to maintain legitimacy. The model enhances institutional understandings of legitimacy maintenance in three main respects: it proposes a view of legitimacy maintenance as a controversy‐based process progressing through stakeholders' justifications vis‐à‐vis a public audience; it demonstrates the role of meta‐level ‘orders of worth’ as multiple modalities for agreement which shape stakeholders' public justifications during controversies; and it highlights the capacities that stakeholders deploy in developing robust justifications out of a plurality of forms of agreement.     

Institutional Constraints,Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Environmental Reporting Policies

Within the theoretical framework of socio‐political economics, and more specifically of stakeholder theory, this work examines whether companies operating under different institutional constraints and stakeholder pressure tend to emphasize different models of corporate environmental reporting. Furthermore, the paper tests whether different corporate environmental reporting policies are driven by the countries' corporate governance systems. A sample of 3931 international companies was examined through a logistic biplot and conditional mean linear regression models. The main results reveal that companies follow two distinct environmental reporting approaches, which depend on specific stakeholders and institutional requirements. The first model, which is followed by firms within codified law countries, mostly focuses on water and emissions. The second approach, mainly followed by companies operating in common law countries, emphasizes materials and energy issues. This finding reveals that companies gradually modify their environmental strategies to make themselves more compatible with the characteristics of the social and institutional environment, which will result in several corporate benefits. The paper provides several outstanding implications for companies' strategic managers, national institutions and firms' stakeholders, especially for investors and customers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Stakeholder value analysis: a methodology for intergrating stakeholder values into corporate enviromental investment decisions

Increasingly, decision‐makers in industry are being faced with complex investment decisions created and made emotive by diverse stakeholder expectations. Investments with the potential to have an impact on a company's environmental performance are a prime example of this since they are driven by multidimensional impacts, many of which are difficult to quantify in scientific and monetary terms. This paper presents a stakeholder value analysis (SVA) model, which can be used to address such problems, using a multiple‐attribute decision methodology. This decision tool has been developed and validated through a series of industrial applications, one of which is outlined here. This application describes the use of the tool in a company context whereby stakeholders from within the company are canvassed for their priorities and views. The SVA tool is used not only to guide and support this process but also to analyse the data and consequently produce output decision metrics, which express the preferences of all relevant stakeholders and which can therefore be more confidently used to support the final decision. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Food contamination incidents: what do consumers seek online? Who cares?

• Consumers can play an active role in managing their health during food contamination incidents. With the popularity of the internet, consumers may seek online information to minimize health risks associated with the incidents. This study examines information demand and supply for consumers' online‐information seeking by investigating the search queries commonly used by consumers during the incidents and returned first page search results. We use a stage of change model to frame our hypotheses about information demand and stakeholder and agenda setting theories to frame our hypotheses about information supply. Results show that consumers' information seeking may progress through stages of precontemplation (seeking no special information), contemplation (seeking information related to the facts of the incidents), preparation and action (seeking information related to safety precautions and practices), and maintenance and termination (seeking no special information). Mainstream news media play the most important role in providing online information related to the facts of the incidents during the contemplation stage of consumers' information seeking. Online citizen journalism is the major online source for information related to safety precautions and practices during the preparation and action stage of information seeking. A diversity of other stakeholders also provide online information related to the incidents but are not primary information sources for consumers. We suggest that stakeholders, especially those who are responsible for providing accurate and timely information to consumers such as government agencies, establish online marketing strategies to make their information more accessible by consumers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Do stakeholder groups influence environmental management system development in the Dutch agri‐food sector?

This paper presents the results of a survey that included 492 companies in the Dutch agri‐food sector with respect to the influence of stakeholder groups on the companies' level of environmental management system (EMS) implementation. It is concluded that primary stakeholders (government, clients) are more relevant for EMS development than secondary stakeholders (such as environmental organizations). The results suggest that small and medium‐sized companies are able to accommodate to demands with respect to the implementation of internally oriented care systems (I‐EMSs). I‐EMSs focus at the single firm or location. In general, they are predominantly influenced by governmental and other ‘non‐commercial’ stakeholder groups. For the implementation of externally oriented EMSs (E‐EMSs), which focus on the supply chain and network, qualitative rather than quantitative relationship characteristics between companies and the government are important. Moreover, commercial stakeholder groups (such as suppliers, clients and competitors) influence E‐EMS levels significantly. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The COVID-19 crisis: A public choice view

Many observers have been puzzled by the sight of otherwise freedom-loving citizens consenting to the stripping of their civil rights and the massive budgetary expansion of their governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, governments who ‘kept their cool’ such as those of Brazil and Sweden were heavily criticised by the Western media. Adopting James Buchanan's contractarian approach, this article seeks to model how the interplay between citizens and their government is affected by a health crisis. Citizens' increased willingness to pay for improved control of risks is found to play a major role.     

Urban entrepreneurship through art-based interventions:unveiling a translation process

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the conditions under which urban entrepreneurship can develop through art-based interventions. Drawing on two contrasting case studies (Civic City in France, Fieris Fééries in Belgium) and taking actor-network theory (ANT) as a starting analytical point, we outline the tensions involved in the implementation process of such interventions. We focus on the capacity of urban entrepreneurs to engage different relevant stakeholders (artists, local government and citizens), establish connections between disconnected worlds that are likely to challenge existing institutional structures and eventually create novelty. We identify these actors as ‘translators’. The paper shows that when urban entrepreneurs play an active translation role consistently over time, art-based interventions can have a substantial impact on urban regeneration.     

Board gender diversity and environmental,social, and economic value creation: Does family ownership matter?

Prior literature on firm value creation for stakeholders has oversimplified and narrowed the concept of value down to “economic returns.” Although economic returns are fundamental to a firm's core stakeholders (i.e., shareholders), other legitimate stakeholders want “value” beyond economic returns. We define stakeholder value as the financial and nonfinancial returns a firm can offer to its legitimate stakeholders, and empirically investigate whether board gender diversity (BGD) improves our multidimensional measure of value. Using Thomson Reuters' ASSET4 data for U.K.‐listed firms available from Eikon for the period 2007–2017, we report a significant positive relationship between BGD and stakeholder value creation. In particular, BGD increases social and environmental value creation in addition to economic returns. Furthermore, our results suggest that even though gender‐diverse boards are associated with stakeholder value creation in family firms, this is only conspicuous for environmental value creation. The findings suggest that although female directors cater to the interests of broader stakeholder groups, family ownership causes them to mainly focus on environmental stakeholders. The study provides important implications for regulators, stakeholders, and academic scholars.     

Forecasting Success on Large Projects: Developing Reliable Scales to Predict Multiple Perspectives by Multiple Stakeholders Over Multiple Time Frames

Our aim is to develop a set of leading performance indicators to enable managers of large projects to forecast during project execution how various stakeholders will perceive success months or even years into the operation of the output. Large projects have many stakeholders who have different objectives for the project, its output, and the business objectives they will deliver. The output of a large project may have a lifetime that lasts for years, or even decades, and ultimate impacts that go beyond its immediate operation. How different stakeholders perceive success can change with time, and so the project manager needs leading performance indicators that go beyond the traditional triple constraint to forecast how key stakeholders will perceive success months or even years later. In this article, we develop a model for project success that identifies how project stakeholders might perceive success in the months and years following a project. We identify success or failure factors that will facilitate or mitigate against achievement of those success criteria, and a set of potential leading performance indicators that forecast how stakeholders will perceive success during the life of the project's output. We conducted a scale development study with 152 managers of large projects and identified two project success factor scales and seven stakeholder satisfaction scales that can be used by project managers to predict stakeholder satisfaction on projects and so may be used by the managers of large projects for the basis of project control.     

Familiness,business strategy and stakeholder engagement: The internationalisation of Spanish olive oil mills

Based on social capital theory and the family-firm context, this paper studies familiness' composition and the result of the overlap of the family and firm systems, analysing their influence on the internationalisation strategies of family firms. In this relationship, the stakeholder engagement becomes at the same time an antecedent and a result when developing family businesses' strategies, being one of the most relevant the internationalisation strategies. Prior research focused on familiness as the result of proxy variables such as the percentage of ownership and management in family hands, or business size, instead of as psychological variables resulting from shared organisational culture and social interactions. Through a qualitative study based on 12 interviews of general managers and/or export managers of Spanish family olive oil mills, this study asserts that the level of familiness influences internationalisation strategies, the reasons underlying a business becoming international and its commitment to activities abroad being the role of stakeholders crucial in those interactions. The higher the level of familiness, the more likely the family business internationalisation and the higher their levels of international commitment. Additionally, the higher the concern about their stakeholders, the higher their levels of international commitment. The family businesses' concern for their stakeholders and their international commitment share a reciprocal relationship. The results regarding the relevance of familiness as social capital resources in sustaining competitive advantages support the decision to promote, develop and nurture social capital when a family business goes international.     

Corporate legitimacy in risk society: the case of Brent Spar

The aim of this paper is to understand what lessons on corporate legitimacy can be drawn from the Shell – Greenpeace conflict in 1995 about the dumping of the Brent Spar oil storage platform in the North-East Atlantic. Based on theories of corporate legitimacy and risk society, it is argued that the Brent Spar conflict reflects a new balance between business, government and civil society as well as a radicalization of the requirements for corporate legitimacy. As a part of these new and more demanding requirements, corporations will need to address a much broader scope of responsibilities and a wider circle of stakeholders than suggested so far by theories of stakeholder management. In addition, corporations will need to develop new and trustworthy forms of dialogue with the public. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Fragmented coherence: solid waste management in Colombo

Notwithstanding the increasingly fragmented organizational relationships within Colombo's urban governance system, the cooperative nature of stakeholder relationships lends a high level of coherence to the overall system. Since 1995, Colombo's solid waste management system has been characterized by the increased role of the private sector, community‐based organizations and NGOs. Whilst the increasingly fragmented nature of this system exhibits some deeply ingrained problems, there are also a number of positives associated with the increased role of civil society actors and, in particular, the informal sector. Reforming regulatory frameworks so as to integrate some of the social norms that are integral to the lives of the majority of urban residents will contribute to regulatory frameworks being considerably more enforceable than is currently the case. Such reform requires that institutional and regulatory frameworks need to be flexible enough to adapt to the changing social, political and economic context. In the Colombo case, effective cooperation between public sector and civil society stakeholders illustrates that adaptive institutional arrangements grounded in pragmatism are feasible. The challenge that arises is to translate these institutional arrangements into adaptive regulatory frameworks — something that would require a significant mind shift on the part of planners and urban managers. En dépit de relations structurelles de plus en plus fragmentées, la nature coopérative des liens entre les différents acteurs apporte une forte cohérence à l'ensemble du système de gouvernance urbaine de Colombo. Depuis 1995, la gestion des déchets y est caractérisée par le rôle croissant du secteur privé, de groupements locaux et d'ONG. Si la nature plus fragmentée de ce système révèle des problèmes profondément ancrés, un certain nombre d'aspects positifs s'associe au rôle plus présent des acteurs de la société civile, notamment du secteur informel. Réformer les cadres statutaires afin de pouvoir y intégrer certaines normes sociales dominantes dans la vie des citadins contribuera à ce que ces cadres soient beaucoup plus faciles à mettre en ?uvre qu'actuellement. Cette réforme implique que les cadres institutionnels et statutaires soient suffisamment souples pour s'adapter aux contextes social, politique et économique évolutifs. Dans le cas de Colombo, une coopération efficace entre les parties prenantes du secteur public et de la société civile montre que des dispositifs institutionnels adaptatifs fondés sur le pragmatisme sont viables. Le défi à relever tient à la possibilité de traduire ces dispositifs institutionnels en cadres statutaires adaptatifs, ce qui exigerait un net changement de mentalités chez les responsables et aménageurs urbains.     

Stakeholders’ Attributes,Behaviors, and Decision‐Making Strategies in Construction Projects: Importance and Correlations in Practice

Project managers need to make decisions on how to balance competing claims between the different stakeholders in projects. Previous studies have suggested that the choice of decision‐making strategies is highly related to stakeholders’ attributes and behaviors in practice; however, limited studies have been conducted in the construction field to analyze the importance of stakeholders’ attributes, behaviors, and decision‐making strategies, and validate the correlations between the factors and decision‐making strategies. To analyze the underlying meanings of stakeholders’ attributes, behaviors, and decision‐making strategies from the practitioners’ perspectives, and indicate the influence of stakeholder‐related factors on decision‐making strategies, an interview, questionnaire survey, and case study were adopted. Empirical studies suggest that three stakeholder attributes (power, urgency, and proximity), and four types of stakeholder behaviors (cooperative potential, competitive threat, opposite position, and neutral attitude) are perceived by the practitioners as important to dealing with stakeholder claims. Depending on stakeholders’ salience levels and behavior types, strategies of defense, compromise, or concession/adaptation are chosen and applied by project managers in practice. The findings can help project managers to proactively understand stakeholder performance, place emphasis on particular attributes and behaviors, and formulate appropriate schemes under different circumstances.