Abstract

Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.

Keywords

Salience (neuroscience)Identification (biology)StakeholderOrganizational identificationStakeholder theoryOrganizational behaviorOrganizational theoryPsychologyPositive economicsSociologySocial psychologyPolitical scienceEconomicsPublic relationsManagementCognitive psychologyOrganizational commitment

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Publication Info

Year
1997
Type
article
Volume
22
Issue
4
Pages
853-886
Citations
9400
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Ronald K. Mitchell, Bradley R. Agle, Donna J. Wood (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. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9711022105

Identifiers

DOI
10.5465/amr.1997.9711022105