The increasing complexity and competitiveness of social and economic configurations is pushing both researchers and practitioners to identify possible new ways to improve the capability of organizations to survive in a challenging scenario (Schoemaker, 1992; Payne and Frow, 2005). Traditional managerial models and organizational approaches based on the view of a company as an autonomous entity able to influence the market and encourage stakeholders towards specific behaviours and aims are proving increasingly inefficient (Birkinshaw, 1997; Reinartz et al ., 2004). The consequence of the old market approach is the increasing risk of many organizations being unable to understand the evolution of market, with negative effects on their chances of survival (Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Freeman et al ., 2007; Barile et al ., 2012; Golinelli et al ., 2012; Saviano and Caputo, 2012, 2013). In the last few years, to overcome the risks and failures of the old approach, different researchers and research streams have tried to identify possible new ways, focusing attention on the ability of an organization to forecast the evolution of consumers’ behaviours and lifestyles (Vrontis and Thrassou, 2007; Solomon et al ., 2012); on the organizational setting and models on which organizations’ strategies and vision are based (Cummings and Worley, 2014; Senge, 2014); and on the instruments needed to acquire more information on the evolution of context and how better to use them (Campanella et al ., 2013; Di Nauta et al., 2015). Building on the different contributions offered by literature on the ways to face the emerging social and economic challenges, it is possible to identify a common element: the increasing attention afforded to the role and the relevance of stakeholders as actors endowed by knowledge, competences and capabilities fundamental to the survival of every type of social and economic organization (Kandampully, 2002; Ayuso et al ., 2006; Vargo et al ., 2008; Hage et al ., 2010; Sanchez et al ., 2012). Donaldson and Preston (1995) define stakeholders as persons or groups with interests characterized by legitimacy in both procedural and substantive aspects of corporate activity. Building on this more general classification, it is possible to affirm that the concept of a stakeholder includes all individuals and groups influencing or able to influence organizations’ behaviours, actions and strategies. According to Freeman (1984), the concept of a stakeholder is an inclusive domain that refers to employees, customers, communities and government officials, among others. The state of knowledge on the concept of the stakeholder is principally based on stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1994; Donaldson and Preston, 1995) as the general framework that underlies the need for companies to understand and satisfy the needs of different actors involved in their field of action (Jensen, 2001; Friedman and Miles, 2002; Freeman et al ., 2004). According to An et al . (2011), stakeholder theory enriches previous studies on companies’ strategies, underlining the need to meet multiple goals related to a wide range of stakeholders. Building on this, the real challenge for every type of organization is to understand the needs of different stakeholders and to develop strategies able to satisfy them in efficient, effective and affordable ways (Cleland, 1999; Barile et al ., 2013). This challenge requires overcoming the traditional perspective of organizations as autonomous entities to adopt a vision in which companies need to interact with their stakeholders and, if possible, they need to collaborate with them and to include them in their actions and strategies to maximize the potential for organizations to survive (Shindler and Cheek, 1999; Iandolo et al., 2013; Barile et al ., 2014). Accordingly, stakeholder engagement can be considered an opportunity for companies to share their values and to generate and circulate trust and knowledge in order to build a stronger collaboration with their stakeholders (Healey, 1997; Caputo et al ., 2016a, Caputo, 2017). In such a vein, the chapter aims to investigate if information sharing and communication strategies can be considered useful pathways to build the preconditions required for the stakeholder engagement. It then proposes to investigate companies’ approach to communication as the key pathway through which to act to improve the alignment between companies and stakeholders in order to build possible preconditions for stakeholder engagement. The contribution of companies’ attention to information sharing and communication strategies to development of stronger relationships with stakeholders is verified via an empirical research oriented to investigate if there is a positive relationship among variables such as use of informal instruments of communication, publishing of social reports, number of years in which social reports are published, and availability of information on companies and companies’ market value, measured by their market capitalization. The rest of this chapter is structured as follows. In the section “Conceptual and theoretical framework” a brief literature review on the topics on which the reflections herein are based is presented. In the section “Methodology” the research design adopted with reference to empirical research is described. In the “Findings” section the results of empirical researches are presented, and in the Discussion they are analysed from both a theoretical and practical point of view. Finally, in the section “Final remarks and future lines of research” some conclusions are presented and possible future lines of research are identified.

The role of Information sharing and communication strategies for improving stakeholder engagement

Caputo Francesco
;
2018-01-01

Abstract

The increasing complexity and competitiveness of social and economic configurations is pushing both researchers and practitioners to identify possible new ways to improve the capability of organizations to survive in a challenging scenario (Schoemaker, 1992; Payne and Frow, 2005). Traditional managerial models and organizational approaches based on the view of a company as an autonomous entity able to influence the market and encourage stakeholders towards specific behaviours and aims are proving increasingly inefficient (Birkinshaw, 1997; Reinartz et al ., 2004). The consequence of the old market approach is the increasing risk of many organizations being unable to understand the evolution of market, with negative effects on their chances of survival (Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Freeman et al ., 2007; Barile et al ., 2012; Golinelli et al ., 2012; Saviano and Caputo, 2012, 2013). In the last few years, to overcome the risks and failures of the old approach, different researchers and research streams have tried to identify possible new ways, focusing attention on the ability of an organization to forecast the evolution of consumers’ behaviours and lifestyles (Vrontis and Thrassou, 2007; Solomon et al ., 2012); on the organizational setting and models on which organizations’ strategies and vision are based (Cummings and Worley, 2014; Senge, 2014); and on the instruments needed to acquire more information on the evolution of context and how better to use them (Campanella et al ., 2013; Di Nauta et al., 2015). Building on the different contributions offered by literature on the ways to face the emerging social and economic challenges, it is possible to identify a common element: the increasing attention afforded to the role and the relevance of stakeholders as actors endowed by knowledge, competences and capabilities fundamental to the survival of every type of social and economic organization (Kandampully, 2002; Ayuso et al ., 2006; Vargo et al ., 2008; Hage et al ., 2010; Sanchez et al ., 2012). Donaldson and Preston (1995) define stakeholders as persons or groups with interests characterized by legitimacy in both procedural and substantive aspects of corporate activity. Building on this more general classification, it is possible to affirm that the concept of a stakeholder includes all individuals and groups influencing or able to influence organizations’ behaviours, actions and strategies. According to Freeman (1984), the concept of a stakeholder is an inclusive domain that refers to employees, customers, communities and government officials, among others. The state of knowledge on the concept of the stakeholder is principally based on stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1994; Donaldson and Preston, 1995) as the general framework that underlies the need for companies to understand and satisfy the needs of different actors involved in their field of action (Jensen, 2001; Friedman and Miles, 2002; Freeman et al ., 2004). According to An et al . (2011), stakeholder theory enriches previous studies on companies’ strategies, underlining the need to meet multiple goals related to a wide range of stakeholders. Building on this, the real challenge for every type of organization is to understand the needs of different stakeholders and to develop strategies able to satisfy them in efficient, effective and affordable ways (Cleland, 1999; Barile et al ., 2013). This challenge requires overcoming the traditional perspective of organizations as autonomous entities to adopt a vision in which companies need to interact with their stakeholders and, if possible, they need to collaborate with them and to include them in their actions and strategies to maximize the potential for organizations to survive (Shindler and Cheek, 1999; Iandolo et al., 2013; Barile et al ., 2014). Accordingly, stakeholder engagement can be considered an opportunity for companies to share their values and to generate and circulate trust and knowledge in order to build a stronger collaboration with their stakeholders (Healey, 1997; Caputo et al ., 2016a, Caputo, 2017). In such a vein, the chapter aims to investigate if information sharing and communication strategies can be considered useful pathways to build the preconditions required for the stakeholder engagement. It then proposes to investigate companies’ approach to communication as the key pathway through which to act to improve the alignment between companies and stakeholders in order to build possible preconditions for stakeholder engagement. The contribution of companies’ attention to information sharing and communication strategies to development of stronger relationships with stakeholders is verified via an empirical research oriented to investigate if there is a positive relationship among variables such as use of informal instruments of communication, publishing of social reports, number of years in which social reports are published, and availability of information on companies and companies’ market value, measured by their market capitalization. The rest of this chapter is structured as follows. In the section “Conceptual and theoretical framework” a brief literature review on the topics on which the reflections herein are based is presented. In the section “Methodology” the research design adopted with reference to empirical research is described. In the “Findings” section the results of empirical researches are presented, and in the Discussion they are analysed from both a theoretical and practical point of view. Finally, in the section “Final remarks and future lines of research” some conclusions are presented and possible future lines of research are identified.
2018
9780815367215
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4707742
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