A Feminist Reinterpretation of The Stakeholder Concept

1994 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Wicks ◽  
Daniel R. Gilbert ◽  
R. Edward Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Feminist Thought ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Integrating Ethics

Abstract:Stakeholder theory has become one of the most important developments in the field of business ethics. While this concept has evolved and gained prominence as a method of integrating ethics into the basic purposes and strategic objectives of the firm, the authors argue that stakeholder theory has retained certain “masculinist” assumptions from the wider business literature that limit its usefulness. The resources of feminist thought, specifically the work of Carol Gilligan, provide a means of reinterpreting the stakeholder concept in a way that overcomes many of the existing limitations. This reading provides a different understanding of the identity and meaning of the firm, specifically in terms of its relationship to stakeholder groups and what it means for a firm to succeed. The alternatives proposed also converge with recent trends in the wider management literature and provide practical guidance for firms which face a myriad of challenges in the increasingly complex and global marketplace.

The Stakeholder Revolution and the Clarkson Principles

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Stakeholder Management ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Perfectly Plastic ◽  
Sloan Foundation ◽  
Encyclopedic Dictionary ◽  
Definition Of

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago the term “stakeholder” was slang for any neglected group affected by a corporation. To be sure, the word had been molded with precision by a thin, important line of management theorists. And to be sure also the word was sometimes used by managers who wanted to justify their personal commitments to groups other than stockholders, such as employees and customers. But like slang, “stakeholder” seemed perfectly plastic and therefore conceptually flawed. It meant one thing to one person, something else to another.Today the term has arrived. Management journals and consultants flaunt it, and articles devoted to one or another interpretation of stakeholder theory are commonplace. Both the Encyclopedia of Management (Freeman 1998) and the Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics (Freeman 1997) identify stakeholder theory as one of a tiny handful of recognized models for interpreting corporate responsibility. As the term rose to prominence, it acquired more solidity, and while varying interpretations of it can be found, a core of meaning pervades current stakeholder literature.The success of the stakeholder terminology and of its accompanying theory has not been accidental. One of the influential forces galvanizing attention was the six-year effort on the definition of the corporation, sponsored by the Sloan Foundation, that situated the stakeholder concept at the center of its project. Through this project, books, conferences, meetings with stakeholder groups, and finally the “Principles of Stakeholder Management,” commonly referred to as the “Clarkson Principles,” brought energy and interest to stakeholder research.

Reflections on the Practical Relevance of Feminist Thought to Business

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Wicks
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Practical Relevance ◽  
Feminist Ethics ◽  
Feminist Thought ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Moral Grounding

AbstractI appreciate the opportunity to comment on two recent papers (Burton and Dunn, “Feminist Ethics as Moral Grounding for Stakeholder Theory” and Dobson, “The Feminine Firm: A Comment”—both in the April 1996 edition of BEQ) which deal with the subject of feminism in business ethics. Both raise important issues for how we think about the relevance and potential contribution of feminist thought to this area of research.

scholarly journals Incumbent Stakeholder Management Performance and New Entry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Laplume ◽  
Kent Walker ◽  
Zhou Zhang ◽  
Xin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Stakeholder Management ◽  
Stakeholder Group ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Management Performance ◽  
Entrepreneurial Entry ◽  
Very High ◽  
New Entry

Abstract Instrumental stakeholder theory seeks to explain how managing stakeholders effectively can yield competitive advantage for incumbent firms. We extend instrumental stakeholder theory to explain and predict future competition operationalized as new entrepreneurial entries. Our study is among the first to empirically examine the relationships between aggregate stakeholder management performance and the entrepreneurial entries of individuals. Using a combined U.S. dataset from 2003 to 2013 from the Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD) Index, Compustat, and Kauffman’s Entrepreneurship Survey, we find support for three hypotheses. First, higher levels of stakeholder management performance are related to lower rates of entrepreneurial entry. Second, a curvilinear relationship exists between stakeholder management performance and entrepreneurial entry, where both low and very high stakeholder management performance increase entrepreneurial entry. Third, the greater the variance in stakeholder management performance across stakeholders, the more entrepreneurial entry. Our findings suggest that managing for stakeholders can help to avoid future competition. We add an entrepreneurship lens to the business ethics of stakeholder theory showing how incumbent stakeholder management performance shapes opportunities for entrepreneurs, a largely neglected stakeholder group.

Strategic Human Resource Development Alignment

2016 ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Ann Herd ◽  
Meera Alagaraja
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource Development ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Resource Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Organizational Learning Culture ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
And Performance

The critical role of human resource development (HRD) in helping organizations identify and meet their strategic objectives in today's competitive and ever-changing global marketplace is increasingly being recognized by both scholars and practitioners. While many HRD scholars have examined the importance of HRD alignment with the organization's strategic objectives, there exist few conceptualizations of this alignment from the employee's perspective. Drawing on strategic HRD and management “line of sight” literature, the purpose of this chapter is to explore the theoretical conceptualization and a proposed model of employee perceptions of the strategic alignment of HRD in their organizations. Strategic HRD alignment from the employee's perspective is explored, and future research directions are discussed, in relation to strategic HRD, organizational learning culture, perceived investment in employee development, and performance-related outcomes for which HRD scholar-practitioners strive in their quest to facilitate organizational strategic objectives.

scholarly journals Effects of social, environmental, and institutional factors on sustainability report assurance: evidence from European countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1059-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Simoni ◽  
Laura Bini ◽  
Marco Bellucci
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Signaling Theory ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Sustainability Report

Purpose The purpose of this study is to extend existing knowledge on the determinants of sustainability report (SR) assurance practices. Four different theories – stakeholder theory, institutional theory, signaling theory and legitimacy theory – are used to formulate several hypotheses regarding the main factors that can influence a company’s decision to assure its SRs. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 417 listed organizations based in different European countries over five years, the effects of stakeholder commitment, country orientation toward sustainability, firm environmental performance and business ethics controversies on the decision to assure SRs are assessed. Findings The results show that a company’s decision to assure its SRs is motivated by the need to maintain good relations with its stakeholders (which is in line with stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory), as well as by the willingness to signal their sustainability performance (which is in line with signaling theory) and to gain legitimacy. On the contrary, business ethics controversies do not seem to be relevant to a company’s assurance practices. Originality/value This paper provides new insights into the influence that social, environmental and institutional factors have on assurance strategies. New factors that previous research does not investigate – environmental performance, business ethics controversies and corporate governance – are tested. Factors that are already investigated in the literature are considered from an original perspective of introducing alternative measures (e.g. for the scope of national sustainability policies).

Business Ethics, Stakeholder Theory, and the Ethics of Healthcare Organizations

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICIA H. WERHANE
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Professional Codes ◽  
Professional Codes Of Ethics

Until recently (before managed care), business issues in healthcare organizations (HCOs) were relatively insulated from clinical issues, for several reasons. The hospital at earlier stages of its development operated on a combination of charitable and equitable premises, allowing for providing care to be separated from financial support. Physicians, who were primarily responsible for clinical care, constituted an independent power nexus within the hospital and were governed by their own professional codes of ethics. In exchange for a great deal of control over their conditions of practice, they took almost complete responsibility for patient care. Thus clinical and professional ethics could to some extent be compartmentalized from the business issues—a much easier feat when, as in much of the last few decades, virtually all care was reimbursed from some source or other. In addition, many HCOs were not categorized or treated as businesses, although of course they were presumed to be governed by the same expectation for good management as any other organization.

scholarly journals Regulation of the Global Marketplace for the Sake of Health

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Danis ◽  
Amy Sepinwall
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Corporate Sector ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Socioeconomic Gradient

Mounting evidence suggests that socioeconomic status is a determinant of health. As nations around the globe increasingly rely on market-based economies, the corporate sector has come to have a powerful influence on the socioeconomic gradient in most nations and hence upon the health status of their populations. At the same time, it has become more difficult for any one nation to influence corporate activities, given the increasing ease with which corporations relocate their operations from country to country, As a result of all of these factors, nations wishing to assure the health of their populations will need to both involve the corporate sector and cooperate with other nations.In this article, we review the business ethics literature and consider what justification it might provide for requiring multinational corporations to attend to concerns about population health.

The Imperfect Nature of Corporate Responsibilities to Stakeholders

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lea
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Practical Reasoning ◽  
Imperfect Duties ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Perfect Duties ◽  
Do So

Abstract:In this paper, I specifically consider the issue of corporate governance and normative stakeholder theory. In doing so, I argue that stakeholder theory and responsibilities to non-shareholder constituencies can be made more intelligible by reference to Kant’s conception of perfect and imperfect duties. I draw upon Onora O’Neill’s (1996) work, Towards Justice and Virtue: A Constructivist Account of Practical Reasoning. In her text O’Neill underlines a number of relevant issues including: the integration of particularist and universalist accounts of morality; the priority of obligations over rights; the importance of the distinction between imperfect and perfect duties; and the relation between the virtues and imperfect duties. On the basis of the foregoing analysis, the paper argues that business ethicists should avoid recommending the institutionalising of stakeholder responsibilities in terms of legally defined sets of stakeholder rights. Instead, we should regard stakeholder responsibilities as uniformalised imperfect duties. Conceiving responsibilities to all stakeholder groups in this manner, allows the firm the freedom to perfect these duties in ways appropriate to cultural and societal setting, and in accordance with the capacity to do so.

New Directions in Strategic Management and Business Ethics

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Elms ◽  
Stephen Brammer ◽  
Jared D. Harris ◽  
Robert A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Managerial Discretion ◽  
Behavioral Strategy ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Strategy As Practice ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT:This essay attempts to provide a useful research agenda for researchers in both strategic management and business ethics. We motivate this agenda by suggesting that the two fields started with similar interests, diverged, and are beginning to converge again. We then identify several streams that hold particular promise for developing our understanding of the relationship between strategy and ethics: stakeholder theory, managerial discretion, behavioral strategy, strategy as practice, and environmental sustainability.

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