Institutional Roots of Stakeholder Interactions

Corporate social responsibility is often studied through the lens of stakeholder theory. Although the initial studies in this tradition (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Swanson, 1999; Jones and Wicks, 1999) have focused more on bringing together descriptive, normative and instrumental parts of the theory, a recent concern has emerged for better understanding of the processes and outcomes related to stakeholder relationships (Mitchell et al., 1997; Harrison and Freeman, 1999; Agle et al., 1999; Friedman and Miles, 2002). In one of the studies following this trend, Harrison and Freeman (1999) point to the need to both identify differences within stakeholder groups and to understand the overall stakeholder relationship as a many-sided, complex phenomenon of corporate social responsibility. However, in a recent study, Friedman and Miles (2002) claim that the focus in many studies is still on defining the stakeholders of the firm, rather than the dynamics of the organization/stakeholder relationship. Therefore, the need to provide a consistent explanation of how, why and to what extent these relations change over time and in different contexts still exists. This chapter intends to contribute to the understanding of stakeholder relations by, first, investigating the limitations of the present thinking on stakeholder relations and, then, by offering alternative venues for the study of the topic.