Little empirical work has been done on the effect of stakeholder management on
corporate performance. In this study, we contributed to stakeholder theory development
by (1) deriving two distinct stakeholder management models from extant research,
(2) testing tbe descriptive accuracy of these models, and (3) including importanl
variables from the strategy literature in the tested models. Tbe results provide
support for a strategic stakebolder management model hut no support for an intrinsic
stakeholder commitment model. Implications of these findings for management practice
and future research are discussed.
Freeman (1984) made a persuasive case that systematic
managerial attention to stakeholder interests
is critical to firm success, a claim not yet tested
in the literature. Although Freeman's early work
introduced many of the central themes of stakeholder-
related research, the conceptual contribution
of Donaldson and Preston (1995) has framed
much of the recent dialogue and suggests why little
serious empirical work has been attempted. Their
taxonomy of stakeholder theory types—normative,
instrumental, and descriptive/empirical—has required
the authors of subsequent work to become
more precise in tbeir terminology and more coherent
in their thinking about stakeholder relationships.
Donaldson and Preston (1995) proposed that
the normative realm, w^hich concerns how managers
should deal with corporate stakeholders, is the
most important to stakeholder theory. Not surprisingly,
there has been considerable discussion in
both academic and practitioner circles over tbe normative
principles firms should use to shape their
relations witb stakeholders (Collins & Porras, 1994;
The auth ...