When to Act? Prioritizing among Competing Stakeholder Interests

Today, stakeholder theory is a well-established area of study within management. In spite of all that we know about stakeholders, however, there has been less progress in helping managers implement these ideas. Although being able to define a firm’s stakeholders is useful conceptually, the theory lacks practical value if it cannot help managers navigate among competing demands. In other words, when the interests of two or more stakeholders conflict, how should a manager decide what to do? The goal of this paper is to help answer this question by developing a model that integrates stakeholder theory into managers’ day-to-day decision making. Specifically, we build on prior work to theorize a multi-step process by which managers can account for variance in: (1) the strategic interests of the firm, (2) the evolution of an issue, and (3) the motivation of the stakeholder(s) to act. In addition to helping managers respond to conflicting demands for change, we hope this framework stimulates further research int...