IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v139y2016i2d10.1007_s10551-015-2638-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Motivators of Mobilization

Author

Listed:
  • Sefa Hayibor

    (Carleton University)

  • Colleen Collins

    (Simon Fraser University)

Abstract

Although the possibility that a firm’s stakeholders may take damaging measures against it in response to its activities has been an underlying assumption of stakeholder theory from inception, the conditions that predispose stakeholders to act against firms remain largely unexplored in the literature. Based on work in equity theory, expectancy theory, and resource dependence theory, we present and test hypotheses concerning stakeholders’ propensities to impose sanctions upon—or to support—firms. Using a vignette-based experiment, we found strong confirmation of the criticality of fairness in the firm–stakeholder relationship: stakeholder equity perceptions were unequivocally associated with the proclivity to sanction the firm, or to engage in prosocial behaviours of benefit to it. Stakeholder expectancy perceptions and resource dependence were related to only certain forms of stakeholder action, indicating that researchers should take care to differentiate between types of stakeholder response when investigating questions surrounding stakeholder mobilization. Our results also suggest specific avenues for stakeholder dialogue that could help firms mitigate the likelihood of stakeholders taking damaging action against them.

Suggested Citation

  • Sefa Hayibor & Colleen Collins, 2016. "Motivators of Mobilization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 351-374, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:139:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2638-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2638-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2638-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2638-9?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    2. Wasieleski, David M. & Hayibor, Sefa, 2009. "Evolutionary Psychology and Business Ethics Research," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 587-616, October.
    3. Brockner, Joel & Davy, Jeanette & Carter, Carolyn, 1985. "Layoffs, self-esteem, and survivor guilt: Motivational, affective, and attitudinal consequences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 229-244, October.
    4. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    5. Burton, Brian K. & Dunn, Craig P., 1996. "Feminist Ethics as Moral Grounding for Stakeholder Theory 1," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 133-147, April.
    6. Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips & Jeffrey S. Harrison, 2009. "Stakeholders, reciprocity, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 447-456, April.
    7. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips, 2010. "Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 58-74, January.
    8. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    9. Robert Watson, 1996. "Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 10(3), pages 565-567, September.
    10. Jan Jonker & David Foster, 2002. "Stakeholder excellence? Framing the evolution and complexity of a stakeholder perspective of the firm," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(4), pages 187-195, December.
    11. Simona Romani & Silvia Grappi & Richard Bagozzi, 2013. "Explaining Consumer Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Gratitude and Altruistic Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 193-206, May.
    12. Hans-Jörg Schlierer & Andrea Werner & Silvana Signori & Elisabeth Garriga & Heidi Weltzien Hoivik & Annick Rossem & Yves Fassin, 2012. "How Do European SME Owner–Managers Make Sense of ‘Stakeholder Management’?: Insights from a Cross-National Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 39-51, August.
    13. Christopher Robertson & Anna Lamin & Grigorios Livanis, 2010. "Stakeholder Perceptions of Offshoring and Outsourcing: The Role of Embedded Issues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 167-189, August.
    14. Mario Minoja, 2012. "Stakeholder Management Theory, Firm Strategy, and Ambidexterity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 67-82, August.
    15. Hosmer, LaRue Tone & Kiewitz, Christian, 2005. "Organizational Justice: A Behavioral Science Concept with Critical Implications for Business Ethics and Stakeholder Theory," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 67-91, January.
    16. Harrison, Jeffrey S. & Bosse, Douglas A., 2013. "How much is too much? The limits to generous treatment of stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 313-322.
    17. Richard A. Wolfe & Daniel S. Putler, 2002. "How Tight Are the Ties that Bind Stakeholder Groups?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 64-80, February.
    18. Anne Barraquier, 2013. "A Group Identity Analysis of Organizations and Their Stakeholders: Porosity of Identity and Mobility of Attributes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 45-62, June.
    19. 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.
    20. Alain Verbeke & Vincent Tung, 2013. "The Future of Stakeholder Management Theory: A Temporal Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 529-543, February.
    21. Luis Perez-Batres & Jonathan Doh & Van Miller & Michael Pisani, 2012. "Stakeholder Pressures as Determinants of CSR Strategic Choice: Why do Firms Choose Symbolic Versus Substantive Self-Regulatory Codes of Conduct?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 157-172, October.
    22. Kathleen Rehbein & Jeanne Logsdon & Harry Buren, 2013. "Corporate Responses to Shareholder Activists: Considering the Dialogue Alternative," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 137-154, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rajiv Kashyap & Mohamed Menisy & Peter Caiazzo & Jim Samuel, 2020. "Transparency versus Performance in Financial Markets: The Role of CSR Communications," Papers 2008.03443, arXiv.org.
    2. Diego F. Uribe & Isabel Ortiz-Marcos & Ángel Uruburu, 2018. "What Is Going on with Stakeholder Theory in Project Management Literature? A Symbiotic Relationship for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Steven E. Kaplan & Valentina L. Zamora, 2018. "The Effects of Current Income Attributes on Nonprofessional Investors’ Say-on-Pay Judgments: Does Fairness Still Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 407-425, December.
    4. Lite J. Nartey & Witold J. Henisz & Sinziana Dorobantu, 2023. "Reciprocity in Firm–Stakeholder Dialog: Timeliness, Valence, Richness, and Topicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(2), pages 429-451, March.

    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. Sefa Hayibor, 2017. "Is Fair Treatment Enough? Augmenting the Fairness-Based Perspective on Stakeholder Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 43-64, January.
    2. Oluyomi A. Osobajo & David Moore, 2017. "Who is Who? Identifying the Different Sub-groups of Secondary Stakeholders within a Community: A Case Study of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria Communities," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(9), pages 188-209, September.
    3. Steven E. Kaplan & Valentina L. Zamora, 2018. "The Effects of Current Income Attributes on Nonprofessional Investors’ Say-on-Pay Judgments: Does Fairness Still Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 407-425, December.
    4. Wei Jiang & Aric Xu Wang & Kevin Zheng Zhou & Chuang Zhang, 2020. "Stakeholder Relationship Capability and Firm Innovation: A Contingent Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 111-125, November.
    5. David Weitzner & Yuval Deutsch, 2023. "Harm Reduction, Solidarity, and Social Mobility as Target Functions: A Rortian Approach to Stakeholder Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 479-492, September.
    6. Bidhan L. Parmar & Adrian Keevil & Andrew C. Wicks, 2019. "People and Profits: The Impact of Corporate Objectives on Employees’ Need Satisfaction at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 13-33, January.
    7. Del Bosco, Barbara & Misani, Nicola, 2011. "Keeping the enemies close: The contribution of corporate social responsibility to reducing crime against the firm," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 87-98, March.
    8. André Laplume & Kent Walker & Zhou Zhang & Xin Yu, 2021. "Incumbent Stakeholder Management Performance and New Entry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 629-644, December.
    9. Lite J. Nartey & Witold J. Henisz & Sinziana Dorobantu, 2023. "Reciprocity in Firm–Stakeholder Dialog: Timeliness, Valence, Richness, and Topicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(2), pages 429-451, March.
    10. Yves Fassin, 2012. "Stakeholder Management, Reciprocity and Stakeholder Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 83-96, August.
    11. Daniel L Gamache & François Neville & Jonathan Bundy & Cole E Short, 2020. "Serving differently: CEO regulatory focus and firm stakeholder strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1305-1335, July.
    12. Bosse, Douglas & Thompson, Steven & Ekman, Peter, 2023. "In consilium apparatus: Artificial intelligence, stakeholder reciprocity, and firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    13. Robert Strand & R. Freeman, 2015. "Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage: The Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement in Scandinavia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 65-85, March.
    14. Mª de la Cruz Déniz-Déniz & Mª Katiuska Cabrera-Suárez & Josefa D. Martín-Santana, 2020. "Orientation Toward Key Non-family Stakeholders and Economic Performance in Family Firms: The Role of Family Identification with the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 329-345, May.
    15. Mario Minoja, 2012. "Stakeholder Management Theory, Firm Strategy, and Ambidexterity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 67-82, August.
    16. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Andrew C. Wicks, 2021. "Harmful Stakeholder Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 405-419, March.
    17. Jose-Luis Godos-Díez & Roberto Fernández-Gago & Laura Cabeza-García, 2015. "Business Education and Idealism as Determinants of Stakeholder Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 439-452, October.
    18. Dejun Deng & Yi Wu & Linyi Qin, 2023. "CSR preference, market competition, and corporate financial performance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1396-1409, April.
    19. Monfardini, Patrizio & Barretta, Antonio D. & Ruggiero, Pasquale, 2013. "Seeking legitimacy: Social reporting in the healthcare sector," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 54-66.
    20. Kull, Alexander J. & Mena, Jeannette A. & Korschun, Daniel, 2016. "A resource-based view of stakeholder marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5553-5560.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:139:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2638-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.