Needs and Challenges of Pursuing a Stakeholder Consequence Research Stream

Abstract

This paper argues that the academic discourse on stakeholder theory is missing an important component – the long-term stakeholder consequences of organizational action. The needs and challenges associated with pursuing such a research agenda are addressed. The paper proposes three longitudinal studies in the areas of pension plan terminations, credit card debt liberalization, and sub-prime mortgages; which collectively will begin to shed light on how organizations actually impact stakeholders. Implications of how a renewed focus on stakeholder impacts and movement toward grounded theory development of a predictive model of stakeholder impact contributes to the current stakeholder theory. A predictive model could aid organizational decision by suggesting stakeholder consequences prior to an action being taken.