Stakeholder theory

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139013338.004

2 - Stakeholder theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

David Bevan and

Patricia Werhane

Edited by

Mollie Painter-Morland and

René ten Bos

Show author details

David Bevan: Affiliation:
DePaul University
Patricia Werhane: Affiliation:
DePaul University
Mollie Painter-Morland: Affiliation:
DePaul University, Chicago
René ten Bos: Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Goals of this chapter

After reading this chapter you will be able to:

understand traditional stakeholder theory;
discuss its characteristics and indicative shortcomings;
critically evaluate stakeholder theory by considering Levinas's thinking.

Introduction

Simply put, a stakeholder is any group or individual who can affect, or is affected by, the achievement of a corporation's purpose. Stakeholders include employees, customers, suppliers, stockholders, banks, environmentalists, government and other groups who can help or hurt the corporation.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Business Ethics and Continental Philosophy , pp. 37 - 60

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139013338.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Freeman, R. E.Strategic Management: a Stakeholder ApproachBoston, MAPitman 1984

Freeman, R. E.Harrison, J. S.Wicks, A. C.Parmar, B. L.Colle, S. DeStakeholder Theory: the State of the ArtOxfordOxford University Press 2010

Smith, A.The Wealth of NationsCampbell, R. H.Skinner, A. S.OxfordOxford University Press 1776

Berle, A. A.Means, G.The Modern Corporation and Private PropertyNew YorkMacmillan 1932

Friedman, M.Capitalism and FreedomChicago, ILUniversity of Chicago Press 1962 74

Harris, J. D.Freeman, R. E.The impossibility of the separation thesisBusiness Ethics Quarterly 18 2008 541Google Scholar

Freeman, R. E.The politics of stakeholder theoryBusiness Ethics Quarterly 4 1994 409Google Scholar

Bowie, N.A Kantian theory of capitalism’Business Ethics Quarterly SI 1998 37Google Scholar

Freeman, R. E.Werhane, P.Business ethics: the state of the artInternational Journal of Management Review 1 1999Google Scholar

Evan, W. E.Freeman, R. E.A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian capitalismBeauchamp, T. L.Bowie, N. E.Ethical Theory and BusinessEnglewood Cliffs, NJPrentice Hall 1988

Wicks, A. C.Freeman, R. E.Organization studies and the new pragmatism: positivism, anti-positivism and the search for ethicsOrganization Science 9 1998 123Google Scholar

Reed, D.Stakeholder management theory: a critical theory perspectiveBusiness Ethics Quarterly 9 1999 453Google Scholar

Donaldson, T.Dunfee, T.Ties That Bind: a Social Contracts Approach to Business EthicsCambridge, MAHarvard Business School Press 1999

Freeman, The politics’; R. E. Freeman, ‘A stakeholder theory of the modern corporationBeauchamp, T. L.Bowie, N. E.Arnold, D. G.Ethical Theory and Business Practice,Saddle River, NJPrentice Hall 2001 56

Phillips, R.Stakeholder theory and a principle of fairnessBusiness Ethics Quarterly 7 1997 51Google Scholar

Phillips, R.Stakeholder legitimacyBusiness Ethics Quarterly 13 2003 25Google Scholar

Wijnberg, N. M.Normative stakeholder theory and Aristotle: the link between ethics and politicsJournal of Business Ethics 25 2000 329Google Scholar

Argandoña, A.The stakeholder and the common goodJournal of Business Ethics 17 1998 093Google Scholar

Man, A. L.Miles, S.Developing stakeholder theoryJournal of Management Studies 39 2002 1Google Scholar

Hill, C. W. L.Jones, T. M.Stakeholder agency theoryJournal of Management Studies 29 1992 131Google Scholar

Wicks, A. C.Gilbert, D. RFreeman, R. E.A feminist reinterpretation of the stakeholder conceptBusiness Ethics Quarterly 4 1994 475Google Scholar

Matten, D.Moon, J.Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: a conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibilityAcademy of Management Review 33 2008 404Google Scholar

Friedman, A. L.Miles, S.Stakeholders: Theory and PracticeOxfordOxford University Press 2006

Clarkson, M. B. E.A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate performanceAcademy of Management Review 20 1995 92Google Scholar

Phillips, R.Stakeholder legitimacyBusiness Ethics Quarterly 13 2003 25Google Scholar

Mitchell, R. K.Agle, B. R.Wood, D. J.Towards a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really countsAcademy of Management Review 22 1997Google Scholar

Trevino, L. K.Weaver, G. R.The stakeholder research tradition: converging theorists – not convergent theoryAcademy of Management Review 24 1999 222Google Scholar

Weaver, G. R.Trevino, L. K.Cochran, P. L.Academy of Management Journal 42 1999

Swift, T.Trust, reputation and corporate accountabilityBusiness Ethics: a European Review 10 2001 16Google Scholar

Hasnas, J.The normative theories of business ethics: a guide for the perplexedBusiness Ethics Quarterly 8 1998 127Google Scholar

Mullins, L. J.Management and Organisational BehaviourLondonFT Prentice Hall 2004 135

Egels, N.Sorting out the Mess: a Review of Definitions of Ethical Issues in BusinessGothenburgGothenburg Research Institute 2005

Gioia, D. A.Practicability, paradigms, and problems in stakeholder theorizing’Academy of Management Review 24 1999 229Google Scholar

Gray, R.Owen, D.Adams, C.Accounting and AccountabilityHarlowPrentice Hall Europe 1996

Stoney, C.Winstanley, D.Stakeholding: confusion or Utopia? Mapping the conceptual terrainJournal of Management Studies 38 2001 603Google Scholar

Geva, A.Myth and ethics in businessBusiness Ethics Quarterly 11 2001 575Google Scholar

Carson, P. P.Lanier, P. ACarson, K. D.Guidry, B. N.Clearing a path through the management fashion jungle: some preliminary trailblazingAcademy of Management Journal 43 2000 143Google Scholar

Spell, C. S.Management fashions: where do they come from, and are they old wine in new bottles?Journal of Management Inquiry 10 2001 358Google Scholar

Jansson, E.The stakeholder model: the influence of the ownership and governance structuresJournal of Business Ethics 56 2005 1Google Scholar

Banerjee, S. B.Organization and Environment 13 2001 3

Jonker, J.Foster, D.Stakeholder excellence? Framing the evolution and complexity of a stakeholder perspective of the firmCorporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 9 2002 187Google Scholar

Donaldson, T.Preston, L. E.The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implicationsAcademy of Management Review 24 1995 65Google Scholar

Banerjee, S. B.Corporate Social Responsibility: the Good, the Bad and the UglyCheltenham, UKEdward Elgar 2008 26

Freeman, R. E.Business Ethics: the State of the ArtOxfordOxford University Press 1991

Freeman, R. E.Harrison, J. S.Wicks, A. C.Managing for Stakeholders. Survival, Reputation, and SuccessNew Haven, CTYale University Press 2007

McVea, J.Freeman, R. E.A names-and-faces approach to stakeholder managementJournal of Management Inquiry 14 2005 57Google Scholar

Benhabib, S.Situating the SelfNew YorkRoutledge 1992

Wolf, S.Toward a systemic theory of informed consent in managed careHouston Law Review 14 1999 1Google Scholar

Pisek, P.Redesigning of health care with insights from the science of complex systemsCrossing the Quality Chasm. A New Health System for the 21st CenturyWashington, DCNational Academy Press 2001

Emanuel, L.Ethics and the structure of health care’Cambridge Quarterly 9 2000 151Google Scholar

Werhane, P. H.Moral imagination and systems thinkingJournal of Business Ethics 38 2002 33Google Scholar

Mintroff, I. I.Linstone, H. A.Unbounded Mind: Breaking the Chains of Traditional Business ThinkingOxford, UKOxford University Press 1993

Goodpaster, K.Corporate responsibility and its constituentsBeauchamp, T.Brenkert, G.Oxford Handbook for Business EthicsOxfordOxford University Press 2009

Yemen, G.Powell, E.The Female Health CompanyCharlottesville, VAUniversity of Virginia Darden School Publishing 2003

Bauman, Z.Postmodern EthicsOxfordBlackwell 1993

Chandler, G.Introduction: defining corporate social responsibilityEthical Performance: Best Practice 2001 www.rhcatalyst.org/site/DocServer/CSRQ_A.pdf?docID=103

Zielinski, A.Levinas – La Responsabilité est sans Pourquoi?ParisUniversity of Paris Press 2004

Levinas, E.Is ontology fundamental?Levinas, E.Entre Nous: Thinking of the OtherLondonContinuum Books 2006 1

Levinas, E.Totality and Infinity – an Essay on ExteriorityPittsburgh, PADuquesne University Press 1969

Levinas, E.On EscapeStanford, CAStanford University Press 2003

Levinas, E.Alterity and TranscendenceLondonAthlone Press 1999

Bevan, D.Continental philosophy: a grounded theory approach and the emergence of convenient and inconvenient ethicsPainter-Morland, M.Werhane, P.Cutting-edge Issues in Business Ethics: Continental Challenges to Tradition and PracticeNew YorkSpringer 2008 131

Shearer, T.Ethics and accountability: from the for-itself to the for-the-other’Accounting, Organizations and Society 27 2002 541Google Scholar

Roberts, J.The manufacture of corporate social responsibility: constructing corporate sensibilityOrganization 10 2003 249Google Scholar

Bevan, D.Corvellec, H.The impossibility of corporate ethics: for a Levinasian approach to management ethicsBusiness Ethics: a European Review 16 2007 208Google Scholar

Weber, M.The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of CapitalismMineola, NYDover 1904

Bauman, Z.Postmodern EthicsOxfordBlackwell 1993

Bauman, Z.Wasted LivesCambridgePolity Press 2004

Weber, M.Economy and SocietyLondonUniversity of California Press 1922

Arendt, H.The Human ConditionChicago, ILUniversity of Chicago Press 1999

Card, C.The Atrocity Paradigm: a Theory of EvilOxford, UKOxford University Press 2005

Deleuze, G.Guattari, F.A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and SchizophreniaLondonContinuum 2004

Jackall, R.Moral Mazes: the World of Corporate ManagersOxford, UKOxford University Press 2000

Vetlesen, A. J.Introducing an ethics of proximityJodalen, H.Vetlesen, A. J.Closeness: an EthicsOsloScandinavian University Press 1997 1

Key, S.Bewley, L.Vault, S.Stakeholder Theory around the World: a Twenty-year Retrospective 2004 Knoxville, TN

Collins, E.Kearins, K.Roper, J.The risks in relying on stakeholder engagement for the achievement of sustainabilityElectronic Journal of Radical Organization Theory 9 2005 1Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.