Research | Stakeholder Theory

Scholars around the globe have published over 36,000 articles and books using Stakeholder Theory. While clearly not a comprehensive list, the resources below provide a useful starting point to learn about the work that has been done in different areas and to chart fruitful future directions.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Olsen, T. D. (2017). Political stakeholder theory: The state, legitimacy, and the ethics of Microfinance in emerging economies. Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(1), 71-98.
Rubinelli, S., & Von Groote, P. M. (2017). Stakeholder dialogue as deliberation for decision making in health policy and systems: The approach from argumentation theory. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 96(2), S17-S22.
Bonnafous-Boucher, M., & Rendtorff, J. D. (2016). Stakeholder theory and ethics. Stakeholder Theory (pp. 67-78). Springer International Publishing.
Ketokivi, M., & Mahoney, J. T. (2016). Transaction cost economics as a constructive stakeholder theory. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15(1), 123-138.
Kujala, J., Lehtimäki, H., & Myllykangas, P. (2016). Toward a relational stakeholder theory: Attributes of value-creating stakeholder relationships. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2016(1), 13609.
Jahn, J., & Brühl, R. (2016) How Friedman’s view on individual freedom relates to stakeholder theory and social contract theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-12.
Berman, S. L., & Johnson-Cramer, M. E. (2016). Stakeholder theory seeing the field through the forest. Business & Society, 1-18.
Beckman, T., Beckman, T., Khare, A., Khare, A., Matear, M., & Matear, M. (2016). Does the theory of stakeholder identity and salience lead to corporate social responsibility? The case of environmental justice. Social Responsibility Journal, 12(4), 806-819.
Moriarty, J. (2016). The demands of stakeholder theory for corporate governance. Business Ethics Journal Review, 4(8), 47-52.
Fassin, Y., de Colle, S., & Edward Freeman, R. (2016). Intra-stakeholder alliances in plant-closing decisions: A stakeholder theory approach. Business Ethics: A European Review, 26(2), 97-111.
Pandey, V., & Gupta, S. (2016). Understanding G2G e-government project impasse: a stakeholder theory perspective. Information Development, 33(4), 361-374.

BOOKS

Pubs_Ethical Issues_Donaldson Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach (8th Edition)
Thomas Donaldson, Patricia Werhane and Joseph Van Zandt

Business Ethics: A Managerial Approach Andrew C. Wicks, R. Edward Freeman,
Patricia H. Werhane and Kirsten E. Martin

Stakeholder Theory: The State of the Art R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison,
Andrew C. Wicks, Bidhan L. Parmar

Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success R. Edward Freeman,
Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks

Stakeholder Theory: Impact and Prospects
Robert A. Phillips

Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics
Robert A. Phillips, R. Edward Freeman

Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach
R. Edward Freeman

Redefining the Corporation Stakeholder Management and Organizational Wealth
James E. Post, Lee E. Preston, and Sybille Sachs

IN MANAGEMENT

Agle, B. R., Mitchell, R. K., & Sonnenfeld, J. A. (1999). Who matters to CEOs? An investigation of stakeholder attributes and salience, corporate performance, and CEO values. Academy of Management Journal, 42(5), 507-525.
Berman, S. L., Wicks, A. C., Kotha, S., & Jones, T. M. (1999). Does stakeholder orientation matter? The relationship between stakeholder management models and firm financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 42(5), 488-506.
Clarkson, M. E. (1995). A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92-117.
Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65-91.
Frooman, J. (1999). Stakeholder influence strategies. Academy of Management Review, 24(2), 191-205.
Henriques, I., & Sadorsky, P. (1999). The relationship between environmental commitment and managerial perceptions of stakeholder importance. Academy of Management Journal, 42(1), 87-99.
Hillman, A. J., & Keim, G. D. (2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: what’s the bottom line?. Strategic Management Journal, 125-139.
Jones, T. M. (1995). Instrumental stakeholder theory: A synthesis of ethics and economics. Academy of Management Review, 20(2), 404-437.
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853-886.
Rowley, T. J. (1997). Moving beyond dyadic ties: A network theory of stakeholder influences. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 887-910.
Rowley, T. I., & Moldoveanu, M. (2003). When will stakeholder groups act? An interest-and identity-based model of stakeholder group mobilization. Academy of Management Review, 28(2), 204-219.
Scott, S. G., & Lane, V. R. (2000). A stakeholder approach to organizational identity. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 43-62.

IN LEGAL STUDIES

Bebchuk, L. A. (2007). The myth of the shareholder franchise. Virginia Law Review, 675-732.
Blair, M. M., & Stout, L. A. (1999). A team production theory of corporate law. Virginia Law Review, 247-328.
Boatright, J. R. (1994). Fiduciary duties and the shareholder-management relation: or, what’s so special about shareholders?. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(4), 393-407.
Keay, A. (2010). Shareholder primacy in corporate law: Can it survive? Should it survive?. European Company and Financial Law Review, 7(3), 369-413.
Lan, L. L., & Heracleous, L. (2010). Rethinking agency theory: The view from law. Academy of Management Review, 35(2), 294-314.
Marcoux, A. M. (2003). A fiduciary argument against stakeholder theory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(1), 1-24.
Marens, R., & Wicks, A. (1999). Getting Real: Stakeholder theory, managerial practice, and the general irrelevance of fiduciary duties owed to shareholders. Business Ethics Quarterly, 9(02), 273-293.
Stout, L. A. (2002). Do antitakeover defenses decrease shareholder wealth? The ex post/ex ante valuation problem. Stanford Law Review, 845-861.
Stout, L. A. (2003). The shareholder as Ulysses: Some empirical evidence on why investors in public corporations tolerate board governance. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 152(2), 667-712.
Stout, L. A. (2007). The mythical benefits of shareholder control. Virginia Law Review, 789-809.

IN HEALTHCARE

Aarons, G. A., Wells, R. S., Zagursky, K., Fettes, D. L., & Palinkas, L. A. (2009). Implementing evidence-based practice in community mental health agencies: A multiple stakeholder analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 99(11), 2087-2095.
Blair, J. D., & Whitehead, C. J. (1988). Too many on the seesaw: Stakeholder diagnosis and management. Journal of Healthcare Management, 33(2), 153.
Brugha, R., & Varvasovszky, Z. (2000). Stakeholder analysis: A review. Health Policy and Planning, 15(3), 239-246.
Deverka, P. A., Lavallee, D. C., Desai, P. J., Esmail, L. C., Ramsey, S. D., Veenstra, D. L., & Tunis, S. R. (2012). Stakeholder participation in comparative effectiveness research: Defining a framework for effective engagement. Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research.
Ferguson, E., Farrell, K., James, V., & Lowe, K. C. (2004). Trustworthiness of information about blood donation and transfusion in relation to knowledge and perceptions of risk: An analysis of UK stakeholder groups. Transfusion Medicine, 14(3), 205-216.
Grundy, P., Hagan, K. R., Hansen, J. C., & Grumbach, K. (2010). The multi-stakeholder movement for primary care renewal and reform. Health Affairs, 29(5), 791-798.
Quadagno, J. (2004). Why the United States has no national health insurance: Stakeholder mobilization against the welfare state,1945-1996. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 25-44.
Rosenstock, L., Olenec, C., & Wagner, G. R. (1998). The national occupational research agenda: A model of broad stakeholder input into priority setting. American Journal of Public Health, 88(3), 353-356.
Townsend, A., Adam, S., Birch, P. H., Lohn, Z., Rousseau, F., & Friedman, J. M. (2012). “I want to know what’s in Pandora’s box”: Comparing stakeholder perspectives on incidental findings in clinical whole genomic sequencing. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 158(10), 2519-2525.
Tregunno, D., Ross Baker, G., Barnsley, J., & Murray, M. (2004). Competing values of emergency department performance: Balancing multiple stakeholder perspectives. Health Services Research, 39(4p1), 771-792.

IN FINANCE

Banerjee, S., Dasgupta, S., & Kim, Y. (2008). Buyer–supplier relationships and the stakeholder theory of capital structure. The Journal of Finance, 63(5), 2507-2552.
Barton, S. L., Hill, N. C., & Sundaram, S. (1989). An empirical test of stakeholder theory predictions of capital structure. Financial Management, 36-44.
Benson, B. W., & Davidson, W. N. (2010). The relation between stakeholder management, firm value, and CEO compensation: A test of enlightened value maximization. Financial Management, 39(3), 929-964.
Bøhren, Ø., Josefsen, M. G., & Steen, P. E. (2012). Stakeholder conflicts and dividend policy. Journal of Banking & Finance, 36(10), 2852-2864.
Borgers, A., Derwall, J., Koedijk, K., & Ter Horst, J. (2013). Stakeholder relations and stock returns: On errors in investors’ expectations and learning. Journal of Empirical Finance, 22, 159-175.
Holder, M. E., Langrehr, F. W., & Hexter, J. L. (1998). Dividend policy determinants: An investigation of the influences of stakeholder theory. Financial Management, 73-82.
Jensen, M. C. (2001). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 14(3), 8-21.
Jiao, Y. (2010). Stakeholder welfare and firm value. Journal of Banking & Finance, 34(10), 2549-2561.
Renneboog, L., Ter Horst, J., & Zhang, C. (2008). The price of ethics and stakeholder governance: The performance of socially responsible mutual funds. Journal of Corporate Finance, 14(3), 302-322.
Wallace, J. S. (2003). Value maximization and stakeholder theory: Compatible or not?. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 15(3), 120-127.

IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Barnett, M. L. (2007). Stakeholder influence capacity and the variability of financial returns to corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32(3), 794-816.
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39-48.
Clarkson, M. E. (1995). A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92-117.
Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1), 51-71.
Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2008). “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 404-424.
McGuire, J. B., Sundgren, A., & Schneeweis, T. (1988). Corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 31(4), 854-872.
McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26(1), 117-127.
Morsing, M., & Schultz, M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility communication: stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies. Business Ethics: A European Review, 15(4), 323-338.
Roberts, R. W. (1992). Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: An application of stakeholder theory. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17(6), 595-612.
Sen, S., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Korschun, D. (2006). The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 158-166.