Stakeholder identification and classification: a sustainability marketing perspective

Purpose - – This paper aims to review the literature on stakeholder identification and classification related to sustainability marketing from 1998 to 2012 and provides a generalized approach to stakeholder identification and classification in the field of sustainability marketing. Design/methodology/approach - – Beginning with brief introductions of the key concepts, the research discusses landmark studies on the subject in detail. The review process then begins by identifying and selecting relevant research papers from various online databases. Finally, 60 research papers are found suitable for the review and are examined to theoretically analyze the stakeholder identification and classification schemes used in sustainability marketing literature. Findings - – This study identifies trends of growth in stakeholder identification and classification literature. In addition, there are two major findings. First, stakeholder identification can be done with the help of previous studies, with support from managers or via a combination of both. Second, future research can adopt generic stakeholder classification schemes or relative classification schemes based on dimensions of sustainability to classify stakeholders in relation to sustainability marketing. In relative stakeholder classification, regulatory stakeholders may be considered separately. Research limitations/implications - – While the literature review may be incomplete, as it uses only a title-based advanced search, researchers and practitioners can still benefit from this simplified approach to manage stakeholders. Originality/value - – The study introduces a generalized approach to stakeholder identification and classification related to sustainability marketing and provides a bibliography from 1998 to 2012 that can be used by academics and managers.