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The purpose of the study is to investigate differences between the perceptions of the Mayors and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of local government authorities (LGAs) with regards to the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency of different identified stakeholder groups regarding their claims and needs concerning infrastructure assets. Stakeholder groups are categorised into those at the public level and those at higher-tier government level.

A survey of 420 LGAs throughout Australia was undertaken using an instrument developed from the constructs in Mitchell et al.’s (1997) theory of stakeholder identification and salience.

The results first reveal that there are more similarities than differences between the perceptions of the Mayors and CEOs with regard to stakeholder attributes of different stakeholder groups. Second, both Mayors and CEOs view stakeholders in infrastructure decision-making as largely “expectant dependant”. However, there is evidence that some biased priority may be accorded to the “public stakeholder” category over “higher-tier government” category because the CEO’s perception of the power of “public” stakeholders, together with the Mayor’s managerial values, is significantly positively related to their perceptions of the salience of these “public” stakeholders, but not “higher-tier government” stakeholders. However the results of the analysis change in the combined sample of the Mayor and CEO, making both categories of stakeholders as “definitive” in infrastructure decision-making.

The results of this study are subject to the usual limitation of mail surveys, including biases that can arise in respondents’ rating based on their perceptions. The findings have implications for the process of infrastructure decision-making in local governments.

This paper contributes to the literature, providing evidence on how Mayors and CEOs of local governments prioritise the needs, interests and claims of different stakeholders with respect to infrastructure assets.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model that demonstrates the influence of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation on the power and interests of actors at the production‐sales interface, and vice versa.

An empirical in‐depth longitudinal case study examines how a medium‐sized company in the graphics industry implemented an ERP system and how this has affected the interests and power distribution between the manufacturing and sales departments.

The case study reveals that the power division among key players at the production‐sales interface has been affected by the ERP implementation. These changes influence their attitudes and behaviours as well as the usage of the ERP system.

Limitations are associated with the inherent weaknesses of any research based on a single‐case study: theoretical, but not statistical, generalisations are possible.

The findings imply that those implementing ERP systems in production‐sales environments should, from the outset of the project, identify potential changes in the division of power and seek to reconcile stakeholder interests.

This is one of the few studies that has examined in‐depth the potential effects of ERP implementation on power division at the production‐sales interface.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a collaborative framework for balancing stakeholder power and social responsibilities in construction projects. To resolve the problems of unclear responsibility that is common in construction projects, the framework is designed to help stakeholders identify their roles in various issues and to facilitate collaborative endeavours by elucidating their responsibilities.

The framework is designed using a scientific approach based on a problem-solution paradigm. It is developed as a model that would provide strategies for responding to various issues and that would also balance stakeholder responsibilities with power. A case study is conducted to validate the framework in an ongoing real estate project in China.

The effectiveness of the framework is validated from the case study, which found that the engagement of stakeholders is improved by adopting the framework. It is also found that use of the framework led to enhancement of communication and trust, and better collaboration through a collective form of responsibility.

The study provides valuable insights into stakeholder collaboration on social responsibility issues in construction projects. The dynamic nature of stakeholders is addressed, and an easy-to-follow framework is offered for use in construction projects.

The purpose of this paper is to link empowerment to the engagement of low-power stakeholders in the context of marine protected areas (MPAs) to suggest how empowerment-based engagement can be strategised to prevent and overcome management crises within a natural common good and ultimately achieve effective co-management.

This research employs a longitudinal case study methodology. The subject of the study is Torre Guaceto MPA, a natural common good, internationally recognised as a best practice of co-management.

The case study illustrates specific empowerment areas and actions that help move low-power stakeholders to higher levels of engagement to achieve effective co-management. It also suggests that the main strategic implication of empowerment-based engagement is the creation of empowered stakeholders who can serve as catalysts for sustaining the common through the development of entrepreneurial skills that satisfy joint interests.

The applied methodology of a single case and the peculiar conditions intrinsic to this case can be overcome via the inclusion and comparison of other similar commons.

The study provides a stakeholder management model of empowerment-based engagement that offers concrete evidence of empowerment strategies that can be adopted and adapted by the management of similar natural common goods.

The research fills the literature gaps related to understanding the antecedents of engagement and its strategic implications within natural common pool resources.

This study aims to examine whether lenders’ power and other attributes influence corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Bangladesh.

This study uses content analysis to examine specific CSR-related attributes from 115 publicly listed firms in Bangladesh. By using various attributes of social and environmental reporting a disclosure index is also constructed. This study uses an Ordinary Lease Square Regression analysis to examine the relationship between stakeholders’ power and CSR reporting.

The finding is that lenders’ power, or the extent of borrowing, does not influence CSR exposure. However, lenders’ cost of monitoring and ability to monitor significantly and positively influence CSR exposure.

This study is subject to some limitations, such as the subjectivity or judgement associated in the coding process.

The implication of this study is that, when multiple borrowing creates “claim-dilution” problems, lenders are found to influence CSR activity.

This study also supports the stakeholder theory and contributes to the literature on the practices of CSR reporting in the context of developing countries.

This paper aims to examine major stakeholders’ communication preferences in eParticipation initiatives and discuss how this affects the public sphere. Despite the potential of social media, it has proven difficult to get people actively involved in the decision-making processes. There is a need for more research on how stakeholders manage and use social media to communicate.

The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. Data sources include interviews, social media content, document analysis and field notes.

Communication preferences of stakeholders vary according to their salience level. Stakeholders with higher salience are less likely to participate in social media, whereas those who are less salient will use every available medium to gain influence. This challenges the opportunity to create a traditional public sphere in social media.

The authors contribute to a better understanding of who participates in social media and why. Stakeholder salience analysis shows that in the case of citizen-initiated eParticipation, social media cannot be seen as a Habermasian public sphere.

The authors suggest two approaches for government officials’ handling of social media: to treat social media as a channel for input and knowledge about the concerns of citizen groups and to integrate social media in the formal processes of decision making to develop consultative statements on specific policy issues.

The study shows that power and urgency are the most important salience attributes. These findings indicate that social media may not be as inclusive as early research indicates, and less active social media users may have power and influence through other channels.

The findings extend current knowledge of the public sphere by adding the stakeholder perspective in addition to existing evaluative models of the public sphere.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have substantial social, economic and environmental impacts. Yet there is limited research that examines their sustainability performance. This paper aims to investigate the factors that are associated with sustainability performance in HEIs. Specifically, drawing from the stakeholder theory and exploiting Ullmann’s (1985) conceptual framework, this study examines the association between sustainability performance and stakeholder power, strategic posture and financial slack resources.

The authors draw the sample from the People & Planet University Green League Table for the period 2011–2019 and use the generalised estimating equations for the modelling approach.

This study finds that stakeholder power, in particular, funding grant income, tuition fee income and student and staff numbers, are positively associated with sustainability performance. In relation to strategic posture, this study finds that sustainability performance is negatively associated with governing body independence and gender diversity, and positively associated with internal structures. Finally, regarding financial slack resources, this study finds that surplus income (staff costs) is positively (negatively) associated with sustainability performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research contributes to several existing literature focusing on the not-for-profit sector by documenting, for the first time, the role of stakeholder power, strategic posture and slack financial resources on sustainability performance.

The paper includes relevant implications for HEI managers and regulators for promoting sustainability.

These results contribute to the literature on the factors influencing sustainability performance.

This paper aims to explore how stakeholders are voluntarily granted influence in corporate decision making.

The stakeholder governance practices of 46 companies were explored in a multiple comparative case analysis, drawing on publicly available sources.

The research finds that stakeholders are granted a voice regarding operational, managerial as well as strategic issues. The power granted to stakeholders varies from non‐participation to co‐decision making. The majority of engagements found are a combination of low power and low scope of participation, which are limited in their potential to align the views of those inside and outside the corporate boundaries.

The data used in this research relied on publicly available sources, such as company reports, articles and web sites.

By seeing an array of different stakeholder governance mechanisms managers can reflect on their own approach to stakeholders and see how other companies use stakeholder engagement for scenario planning and innovation.

The paper is the first to empirically analyse a broad range of companies regarding their voluntary stakeholder engagement mechanisms. This design allows the creation of a heuristic for stakeholder governance as well as for identifying clusters.

Resource cutbacks and changing concepts on how best to deliver human services have created a greater need for collaboration among those involved in these systems. Collaboration can threaten the existing distribution of power among the organisations and groups involved in the system. Six propositions are advanced that are derived from field experience in several human service settings. These suggest that stakeholders with power gain legitimacy quickly. Others who are less powerful must build their own capacity and power base to assure themselves access to collaborative efforts. This permits a redistribution of power, thus increasing the diversity of perspectives and preventing unilateral control. Convenors will need to have sufficient power to play their chosen role. Stakeholders must perceive the outcomes of collaboration outweighing its costs. Their participation hinges partly on the power of convenors to create sufficient incentives to induce participation. Stakeholders must act collectively to influence and manage events within the larger contextual environment.

The purpose of this research is to understand how accounting information mobilises stakeholder salience at an industry level.

A case study method using an explanation building approach was applied to gather information surrounding dairy industry stakeholder uses of accounting information to communicate their salience, in the historical context, leading to, and the events surrounding the milk price “war” in Australia. The Mitchell et al. (1997) stakeholder salience framework was used to advance our understanding of the different ways accounting can be mobilized by stakeholders with different types of salience attributes, at an industry level.

This empirical analysis produces two insights into the relation between accounting and stakeholder salience. First, there is evidence as to how accounting information impacted on stakeholder salience at an industry level by demonstrating how accounting information (in)directly communicated and justified the increase of a stakeholder’s level of salience. Second, the Mitchell et al. (1997) model is extended by attributing levels of importance to each stakeholder attribute. It was found that, in this setting, power was the most salient attribute of the three, usurping legitimacy and urgency, leading to the outcomes observed.

This paper acknowledged the usual method limitations related to this style of qualitative research, including investigator bias and lack of statistical generalization. In addition, a second set of limitations critiques the paper’s operating framework. While the Mitchell et al. (1997) stakeholder salience model proved to be a suitable choice for this research, it is limited in the way in which stakeholder attributes are presented and used to identify stakeholders. In addition, further light may be provided on the distinctions between the different magnitudes of power, legitimacy and urgency between stakeholders after suggesting that they are not equally weighted.

The milk price “war” remains a high-profile discussion amongst the general public. This research contributes to a better understanding of how different players (stakeholders) have their salience claims mobilized through accounting information. Practitioners in the dairy industry might reflect on the findings to enhance their legitimacy pursuits in future negotiations with their counter-parties, and better deploy accounting to achieve the same.

The findings speak more broadly to notions of social equity in stakeholder relations, for the production and distribution of a product that is ubiquitously used in society (dairy – milk). The findings from this study therefore have potential to assist policymakers better understand the strategies adopted by stakeholders to impose their influence and defend their claims in a public forum, using accounting information.

The authors contend that the article provides evidence at an industry level, that is lacking in extant management accounting research (Collier, 2000). To this extent, an original contribution is claimed. The paper is also valuable to management accounting and management researchers studying stakeholder salience, and is one of the first to investigate this issue at an industry level, as well as express how accounting mobilises this salience.