Constructs and Measures in Stakeholder Management Research

Stakeholder strategies, or firms’ approaches to stakeholder management, may have a significant impact on firms’ long-term prosperity and, thereby, on their life chances, as established in the stakeholder view of the firm. A systematic literature review surveyed the contemporary body of quantitative empirical research that has examined firm-level activities relevant to stakeholder management, corporate social responsibility, and corporate social performance, because these three constructs are often conflated in literature. A search uncovered 99 articles published in 22 journals during the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019. Most studies employed databases reporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings, originally created for use in socially responsible investing and corporate risk assessment, but others employed content analysis of texts and primary surveys. Examination revealed a key difference in the scoring of data, in that some studies aggregated numerous indicators into a single composite index to indicate levels of stakeholder management, and other studies scored more articulated constructs. Articulated constructs provided richer observations, including governance and structural arrangements most likely to provide both stakeholder benefits and protections. Also observed were constraining influences of managerial and market myopia, sustaining influences from resilience and complexity frameworks, and recognition that contextual variables are contingencies having impact in recognizing the efficacy of stakeholder management strategies.

Integrating Insights From the Resource-Based View of the Firm Into the New Stakeholder Theory

A powerful new stakeholder theory (NST) of strategic management is emerging. The theory, which is yet incomplete, offers novel and precise tools for understanding stakeholder involvement in organizations. This article identifies open questions in the NST in five areas (organizational formation, resource development, claims on value, governance, and performance) and suggests ways in which insights from the resource-based view of the firm advance answers to these questions. The conclusion emphasizes that because stakeholders bind resources to organizations, neither the resource-based view nor the new stakeholder view is complete without the other.

A stakeholder view of the development of national evaluation systems in Africa

vidence for policy-informed decision-making, budgeting and programming. National evaluation systems (NESs) are being set up across Africa, together with the processes and other monitoring and evaluation (ME) infrastructure for efficient and effective functioning.Objectives: This article seeks to document comparative developments in the growth of systems in Anglophone African countries, and provide an understanding of these systems for capacity-development interventions in these countries. It also aims to contribute to the public debate on the development of national ME systems, institutionalisation of evaluation, and use of ME evidence in the larger African context.Methods: This article uses four key dimensions as the conceptual framework of a national monitoring and evaluation system, including monitoring and evaluation systems in the executive; the functioning of parliamentary ME systems; professionalisation of evaluation and existence of an enabling environment. A questionnaire was used to collect information based on the key dimensions from government and non-governmental personnel. The Mo Ibrahim index of 2018 was used to collect information on enabling environment.Results: Findings indicate that all systems have stakeholders with different roles and contexts and are designed according to the state architecture, prevailing resources and capacities.Conclusions: This article concludes that the findings can be used as different entry points for developing and strengthening ME capacities in countries studied.