Organizational accountability relations:de factoorde jure?

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to bring the concept of “meeting the gaze of the other” into conversation with the organizational accountability literature. This is done by integrating “the gaze” phenomenon with Darwall’s (2006) distinction betweende jureandde factoauthority. In the context of accountability, onlyde jureaccountability entails meeting the gaze of the stakeholder, in that it requires organizations to grant stakeholders the moral authority to hold them to account. Drawing on this work, this paper aims to critically examine the distinction betweende jureandde factoin current organizational accountability theorizing and in practice. Design/methodology/approach - – A content analysis of the “letters to the stakeholders” from the Global 100 firms’ accountability/social responsibility reports. Specifically, this paper examines the frequency with which leading companies acknowledgede factovsde jureaccountability, the nature of these statements and toward which stakeholder group they are directed. Findings - – Most firms acknowledgede factoaccountability, but few grantde jurestanding, making it more likely that firms will ignore claimants they prefer not to morally engage.De jurerelationships that are acknowledged tend to be restricted to certain stakeholders such as employees, customers and shareholders. In addition, there are differences in the granting ofde jureaccountability across industry sectors. Social implications - – This work highlights the importance of acknowledgingde jureaccountability when engaging with stakeholders, and importantly, it highlights how to integrate consideration forde jureaccountability into theorizing on organizational accountability. This analysis suggests that acknowledgingde jureaccountabilityvis-a-visstakeholders can lead to more positive ethical decision-making and stronger relationships. Organizations are encouraged to strengthen their ethical decision-making by granting moral standing to their stakeholders. Originality/value - – Organizational accountability is typically treated as a single construct, yetde jureaccountability (vs simplyde factoaccountability) has been linked to particularly powerful moral effects. This paper examines the critical distinction betweende factoandde jureaccountability. It makes a compelling case for the importance of acknowledging the gaze of organizational stakeholders.