***Apologies for cross-postings****
Call for Papers: Special Issue of Business & Society
Stakeholder Theory at the Crossroads
Guest editors:
Jay B. Barney, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah
Jeffrey S. Harrison, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond
A stakeholder perspective of the firm has existed in the modern business
literature for almost half a Century. Although it has been used to guide
both public policy and business decisions, there is no consensus about its
general applicability. Some hold the view that stakeholder theory has
addressed most of its critical issues and can be used to inform business
decision making, is being used to inform business decision making, and
should be used to inform business decision making. Others argue that, at
the least, some important issues are not yet resolved, and that these
issues limit its usefulness. Still others believe that, even if all these
issues were resolved, the general application of a stakeholder perspective
would still not be a good thing.
All sides of this multi-dimensional debate already understand most of the
arguments mustered by all those in opposition. The purpose of this special
issue is not to rehash old arguments. Instead, we would like to attract
papers that promote the building of a new common ground for what might be
called “stakeholder theory” by addressing some critical tensions. They
include:
1. Is “stakeholder theory” really a theory or is it merely a
perspective? If it is a theory, what are its essential arguments? If
it is not a theory, then what is it and which problems does it/can it
address?
2. Is the primary role of stakeholder management one of satisfying
stakeholders or is it seeing them as joint partners in co-production?
3. Is stakeholder theory primarily aimed at creating value for all
involved or at creating value for the firm?
4. From a firm value creation perspective, is it really optimal to
treat all essential stakeholders unusually well (within rational
limits)? If, on the other hand, a firm focuses on a narrower group of
stakeholders, to what extent are the benefits of generalized exchange
lost?
5. To what extent are essential property decision rights allocated
to stakeholders ex ante vs. do they tend to evolve as stakeholders
are enrolled in co-production over time?
6. Are decision rights primarily a function of cash flow
consideration or are they implicit for stakeholders that do not have
explicit rights but are still critical to the creation of value?
7. To what extent does stakeholder theory focus on achieving
commitment from stakeholders through procedural and distributional
justice vs. a focus on instrumentality in the name of efficiency?
8. Is stakeholder theory a theory of ethical decision-making or
does it simply promote moral minimums in managerial decisions?
9. Does a stakeholder approach promote primarily cost minimization
or opportunity maximization? Which factors create tradeoffs between
these two perspectives?
10. Can firms find common ground among stakeholders with competing
interests vs. do such competing interests make finding common ground
unlikely?
11. Does stakeholder-based management always lead to greater value
creation vs. what are the essential moderators in this relationship?
12. Stakeholder theory and the resource-based view contradict each
other vs. these two theories are complementary in some important
ways.
Authors submitting papers for publication consideration in the special
issue should mention in their cover letter to the editors which tension in
the evolution of the stakeholder perspective their paper addresses.
The tensions and how authors might address them will be topics of
discussion at a conference “extension” in Zürich, Switzerland to be held
right after the annual Strategic Management Society meeting in September
2016. Scholars do not have to attend the full SMS meeting to attend the
conference extension. Information about the extension will become available
on the main SMS conference website at the middle of the Summer (
http://strategicmanagement.net/berlin/overview/overview). Attendance at
this event is not required of the authors who submit manuscripts to the
special issue.
Submission process and schedule
· Authors should submit their full manuscripts through ScholarOne
Manuscripts by December 1st, 2016 (
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bas).
· Be sure to specify in the cover letter document that the manuscript
is for the special issue on “Stakeholder Theory at the Crossroads.”
Please make sure your paper addresses an important tension in the
evolution of the stakeholder perspective.
· Manuscripts should be prepared following the Business & Society
author guidelines:
http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal200878/manuscriptSubmission.
· After an initial screening by the guest editors, all articles will be
double-blind peer reviewed by a minimum of two anonymous referees.
· Authors who are invited to revise and resubmit their papers will be
invited for a manuscript development workshop (expected date and
location: Summer 2017, University of Richmond, Virginia, USA).
About the journal
Business & Society is one of the leading journals at the intersection of
business and issues of social responsibility, ethics and governance.
Published by SAGE and founded in 1960, it was the first journal dedicated
exclusively to publishing research at this intersection. It is the official
journal of the International Association of Business and Society. For
further details see
http://bas.sagepub.com.
About the guest editors
Jay B. Barney is a Presidential Professor of Strategic Management and the
Pierre Lassonde Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the Eccles School of
Business at the University of Utah. He previously served as a Professor of
Management and held the Chase Chair for Excellence in Corporate Strategy at
the Max M. Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University. He also
served on the faculty at Texas A&M University and UCLA.
Professor Barney’s research focuses on the relationship between
costly-to-copy firm skills and capabilities and sustained competitive
advantage—also known as the resource-based theory of competitive advantage.
More recently, he has done research on the actions entrepreneurs take to
form the opportunities they try to exploit—also known as the creation
theory of entrepreneurship. His work has been published in numerous leading
outlets, including the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of
Management Review, the Academy of Management Journal, and Management
Science, and is among the most cited work in the fields of strategic
management and entrepreneurship. He is a fellow of both the Academy of
Management and the Strategic Management Society, has won the Business
Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management Irwin Outstanding
Educator Award and the Academy of Management Award for Scholarly
Contributions, and has received three honorary doctoral degrees—from Lund
University (in Sweden), from the Copenhagen Business School, and the
Universidad Pontifica Comillas (in Spain).
Professor Barney has served as an officer of both the Business Policy and
Strategy Division of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management
Society. He has also served as an associate editor at the Journal of
Management, senior editor for Organization Science, a special issue editor
at the Journal of Management and the Strategic Management Journal, and as
co-editor at the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. In addition to his
teaching and research, he presents executive training programs throughout
the US and Europe and consults with firms on large-scale organizational
change and strategic analysis
Jeffrey S. Harrison is a University Distinguished Educator and the W.
David Robbins Chair of Strategic Management at the Robins School of
Business, University of Richmond. Prior to his current appointment he
served as the Fred G. Peelen Professor of Global Hospitality Strategy at
Cornell University. Dr. Harrison’s research interests include strategic
management and business ethics, with particular expertise in the areas of
stakeholder management, mergers and acquisitions, diversification, and
strategic alliances. Much of his work has been published in high impact
journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Business Ethics Quarterly,
Journal of Business Ethics, and Academy of Management Journal. He has
authored or coauthored ten books, including Managing for Stakeholders:
Survival, Reputation and Success (Yale University Press); Stakeholder
Theory: The State of the Art (Cambridge University Press); Mergers and
Acquisitions: A Guide to Creating Value for Stakeholders (Oxford University
Press); Foundations of Strategic Management, 6th Ed. (Cengage); and
Strategic Management of Resources and Relationships (Wiley).
Dr. Harrison has served on several prestigious journal review boards, and
currently serves on the board at Strategic Management Journal and Business
Ethics Quarterly. As a guest co-editor, he has worked on special issues for
Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, and Academy of
Management Executive. Recently he co-organized and co-hosted a conference
on stakeholder theory in Barcelona that attracted experts from twenty-five
nations and he was also chair of the Stakeholder Strategy Interest Group at
the Strategic Management Society, a group he helped organize.
Irene Henriques
Co-Editor, Business & Society
*************************************
Irene Henriques, PhD
Professor of Sustainability & Economics
Co-editor, Business & Society
Schulich School of Business
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada
Tel: (416) 736-5068
e-mail:
ihenriques@schulich.yorku.ca
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