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Full-Text Articles in Business
How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Will Felps
How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Will Felps
Management Faculty Publications
Instrumental stakeholder theory considers the performance consequences for firms of highly ethical relationships with stakeholders, characterized by high levels of trust, cooperation, and information sharing. While research suggests performance benefits, an obvious question remains: If instrumental stakeholder theory-based stakeholder treatment is so valuable, why isn't it the dominant mode of relating to stakeholders? We argue that the existing instrumental stakeholder theory literature has three shortcomings that limit its ability to explain variance in performance. (1) Little theory exists around how instrumental stakeholder theory-based stakeholder management could provide sustainable competitive advantage. (2) The literature has largely neglected the potential downsides (i.e., …
How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Will Felps
How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Will Felps
Management Faculty Publications
Instrumental stakeholder theory considers the performance consequences for firms of highly ethical relationships with stakeholders, characterized by high levels of trust, cooperation, and information sharing. While research suggests performance benefits, an obvious question remains: If instrumental stakeholder theory–based stakeholder treatment is so valuable, why isn’t it the dominant mode of relating to stakeholders? We argue that the existing instrumental stakeholder theory literature has three shortcomings that limit its ability to explain variance in performance. (1) Little theory exists around how instrumental stakeholder theory–based stakeholder management could provide sustainable competitive advantage. (2) The literature has largely neglected the potential downsides (i.e., …
Stakeholder Theory As An Ethical Approach To Effective Management: Applying The Theory To Multiple Contexts, Jeffrey S. Harrison, R. Edward Freeman, Mônica Cavalcanti Sá De Abreu
Stakeholder Theory As An Ethical Approach To Effective Management: Applying The Theory To Multiple Contexts, Jeffrey S. Harrison, R. Edward Freeman, Mônica Cavalcanti Sá De Abreu
Management Faculty Publications
This article provides a brief overview of stakeholder theory, clears up some widely held misconceptions, explains the importance of examining stakeholder theory from a variety of international perspectives and how this type of research will advance management theory, and introduces the other articles in the special issue.
Stakeholder Theory, Value, And Firm Performance, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks
Stakeholder Theory, Value, And Firm Performance, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks
Management Faculty Publications
This paper argues that the notion of value has been overly simplified and narrowed to focus on economic returns. Stakeholder theory provides an appropriate lens for considering a more complex perspective of the value that stakeholders seek as well as new ways to measure it. We develop a four-factor perspective for defining value that includes, but extends beyond, the economic value stakeholders seek. To highlight its distinctiveness, we compare this perspective to three other popular performance perspectives. Recommendations are made regarding performance measurement for both academic researchers and practitioners. The stakeholder perspective on value offered in this paper draws attention …
Managing For Stakeholders, Stakeholder Utility Functions, And Competitive Advantage, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse, Robert A. Phillips
Managing For Stakeholders, Stakeholder Utility Functions, And Competitive Advantage, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse, Robert A. Phillips
Management Faculty Publications
This paper integrates some of the central concepts of stakeholder theory with the literatures on organizational justice and trust to explain firm competitiveness. It provides a detailed explanation of factors that facilitate acquisition of knowledge about stakeholder utility functions. In addition, it offers a knowledge-based analysis of how firms that manage for stakeholders can enjoy sustainable competitive benefits. These explanations provide a strong rationale for including stakeholder theory in the discussion of firm competitiveness and performance.
Stakeholders, Entrepreneurial Rent And Bounded Self-Interest, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison
Stakeholders, Entrepreneurial Rent And Bounded Self-Interest, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison
Management Faculty Publications
This paper examines how the change from an assumption of pure self-interest to an assumption of bounded self-interest alters basic propositions regarding the way entrepreneurs select, negotiate with and manage relationships with their initial set of stakeholders. Although a purely economic approach would focus on material cost as the sole consideration when conducting these activities, we argue that non-material factors such as reciprocity and fairness are potent forces during the initial resource acquisition process. We explain that non-material considerations are accounted for in negotiations with stakeholders and positive reciprocity is encouraged through openly sharing information with stakeholders about the value …
Stakeholder Theory In Strategic Management: A Retrospective, Jeffrey S. Harrison
Stakeholder Theory In Strategic Management: A Retrospective, Jeffrey S. Harrison
Management Faculty Publications
This chapter will provide a description of the personal journey of the author who, as a newly graduated Ph.D. in strategic management in 1985, embraced stakeholder theory. Perhaps one of the interesting aspects of this narrative is that the field of strategic management itself was in its infancy at the time of my graduation. So I have “grown up” in the strategy field while simultaneously observing and to some extent participating in the development of what we now call stakeholder theory. Over the past two and a half decades I have frequently found myself frustrated by my strategy colleagues’ lack …