IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v15y2006i1p55-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mapping stakeholder theory anew: from the ‘stakeholder theory of the firm’ to three perspectives on business–society relations

Author

Listed:
  • Reinhard Steurer

Abstract

Stakeholder theory has evolved from a corporate‐centric perspective into a more comprehensive research field, which addresses business–society relations from various points of view. To reflect on and to guide such theoretical developments is the purpose of second‐order theories. However, the second‐order stakeholder theories developed so far do not mirror the full spectrum of the stakeholder research field. This paper tries to fill this gap with a triple‐perspective typology of stakeholder theory. It shows that the issue of stakeholder management can be approached from a corporate, a stakeholder or a conceptual point of view. The corporate perspective focuses on how corporations deal with stakeholders, the stakeholder perspective analyses how stakeholders try to influence corporations and the conceptual perspective explores how particular concepts, such as ‘the common good’ or sustainable development, relate to business–stakeholder interactions. In addition, the triple‐perspective typology incorporates the influential second‐order theory of Donaldson and Preston and shows that each of the three perspectives features a normative, a descriptive and an instrumental aspect. Consequently, the typology presented here depicts nine ideal‐typical stakeholder research approaches, each of them approximating business–society relations in a unique way. Mapping stakeholder theory anew can advance stakeholder research beyond its current limitations by raising awareness for neglected research approaches and issues. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Reinhard Steurer, 2006. "Mapping stakeholder theory anew: from the ‘stakeholder theory of the firm’ to three perspectives on business–society relations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 55-69, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:1:p:55-69
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.467
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.467
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.467?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rondinelli, Dennis A. & Berry, Michael A., 2000. "Environmental citizenship in multinational corporations: social responsibility and sustainable development," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 70-84, February.
    2. Goodpaster, Kenneth E., 1991. "Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 53-73, January.
    3. Morten Huse & Violina Rindova, 2001. "Stakeholders' Expectations of Board Roles: The Case of Subsidiary Boards," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 5(2), pages 153-178, June.
    4. Hendry, John, 2001. "Missing the Target: Normative Stakeholder Theory and the Corporate Governance Debate," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 159-176, January.
    5. Cragg, Wesley, 2002. "Business Ethics and Stakeholder Theory," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 113-142, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Y. Fassin, 2008. "The Stakeholder Model Refined," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 08/504, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Giovanni Ferri & Angelo Leogrande, 2015. "Was the Crisis due to a shift from stakeholder to shareholder finance? Surveying the debate," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 108, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    3. Julie Pirsch & Shruti Gupta & Stacy Grau, 2007. "A Framework for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Programs as a Continuum: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 125-140, January.
    4. Mariya Georgieva, 2020. "About the Corporate Social Responsibility Beyond the Framework of Charity," Izvestia Journal of the Union of Scientists - Varna. Economic Sciences Series, Union of Scientists - Varna, Economic Sciences Section, vol. 9(1), pages 35-44, April.
    5. Darnall, Nicole & Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 2008. "Do environmental management systems improve business performance in an international setting?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 364-376, December.
    6. Giulio Cainelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Sandro Montresor, 2012. "Environmental Innovations, Local Networks and Internationalization," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(8), pages 697-734, November.
    7. Silvija Vig & Ksenija Dumicic, 2016. "Impact of commitment to business ethics to nonfinancial business performance," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 14(2), pages 165-181.
    8. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan & Beckmann, Markus, 2008. "Corporate citizenship as stakeholder management: An ordonomic approach to business ethics," Discussion Papers 2008-4, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    9. Johanna Kujala & Anna Heikkinen & Hanna Lehtimäki, 2012. "Understanding the Nature of Stakeholder Relationships: An Empirical Examination of a Conflict Situation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 53-65, August.
    10. Francesco Di Maddaloni & Roya Derakhshan, 2019. "A Leap from Negative to Positive Bond. A Step towards Project Sustainability," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Fracarolli Nunes, Mauro & Lee Park, Camila & Shin, Hyunju, 2021. "Corporate social and environmental irresponsibilities in supply chains, contamination, and damage of intangible resources: A behavioural approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Lamin B. Ceesay, 2020. "Exploring the Influence of NGOs in Corporate Sustainability Adoption: Institutional-Legitimacy Perspective," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 9(2), pages 135-147, December.
    13. Dorceta E. Taylor & Sophia Paul & Ember McCoy, 2019. "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Salience of Publicly Disclosing Demographic Data in American Environmental Nonprofits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-38, October.
    14. Pascual Berrone & Jordi Surroca & Josep Tribó, 2007. "Corporate Ethical Identity as a Determinant of Firm Performance: A Test of the Mediating Role of Stakeholder Satisfaction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(1), pages 35-53, November.
    15. Regmi, Rupesh & Zhang, Zhuo & Zhang, Hongpeng, 2023. "Entrepreneurship strategy, natural resources management and sustainable performance: A study of an emerging market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    16. Kim, Rebecca Chunghee & Yoo, Kate Inyoung & Uddin, Helal, 2018. "The Korean Air nut rage scandal: Domestic versus international responses to a viral incident," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 533-544.
    17. Lee, Eun Mi & Park, Seong-Yeon & Rapert, Molly I. & Newman, Christopher L., 2012. "Does perceived consumer fit matter in corporate social responsibility issues?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1558-1564.
    18. Andrew West, 2006. "Theorising South Africa’s Corporate Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 433-448, November.
    19. Gupta, Suraksha & Kumar, V., 2013. "Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 311-320.
    20. Brink, Alexander, 2011. "Spezifische Investitionen als Legitimationsgrundlage für Stakeholderansprüche," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 65(1), pages 50-68.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:1:p:55-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.