Giacomo Boesso

An investigation of stakeholder prioritization and engagement: who or what really counts

Purpose – Following the line of thinking that a firm is a nexus of contracts between stakeholders, with managers as “the central node,” the purpose of this paper is to examine how managers prioritize stakeholder relationships and to what extent firms engage in disclosures with the stakeholder groups they deem to be important.Design/methodology/approach – Data were simultaneously collected from two different national business contexts, Italy and the USA. The sample for this study consisted of 244 managers.Findings – Results of the study show that the power and legitimacy that managers associate with a stakeholder group cumulatively are the most important determinant of how managers go about prioritizing competing claims. The results also provide some evidence to the effect that the greater the priority accorded to a stakeholder group, the greater the efforts aimed at engaging the stakeholder groups (as evidenced by the voluntary disclosures made in the annual report).Research limitations/implications – Use...

Stakeholder prioritization and reporting: Evidence from Italy and the US

Abstract This study investigates the considerations that might be made by managers when choosing between mutually exclusive stakeholder expectations and reaching and engaging in a dialogue with them. In addition, the study also examines if there are systematic differences across countries (Italy and the US) in the decision to address the concerns of various stakeholder groups. Data was collected from 244 managers and 72 companies simultaneously in two different national business contexts, Italy and the US. The results of the study provide some evidence that managerial perception of three stakeholder group characteristics – power, legitimacy, and urgency – form a parsimonious group of variables that explain the process of stakeholder prioritization. However, only limited support was found for the relationship between salience accorded to a stakeholder group and engagement efforts directed toward the group. The results of the study also show that the managerial decision as to which of the stakeholder groups’ demands to address will be influenced by society-specific expectations. The significance of this study lies in investigating the stakeholder prioritization and engagement process, as it is being practiced, which, one could argue, would help in developing guidelines for effective stakeholder management that stands a realistic chance of being adapted and followed.

Examining the association between stakeholder culture, stakeholder salience and stakeholder engagement activities: An empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between stakeholder culture, stakeholder salience and firm response to stakeholder demands, based on the stakeholder culture framework. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted in a field setting involving 292 mid-level managers who completed measures of stakeholder culture and stakeholder engagement activities (SEAs) in their organizations. Findings – Results show that managers in organizations with different stakeholder cultures differentially ascribe and weigh the three attributes of power, legitimacy, and urgency when determining stakeholder salience. In addition, stakeholder culture is also associated with how managers respond to stakeholder issues in terms of SEAs. Research limitations/implications – Findings of the study justify the need to extend the stakeholder salience theory beyond the values of senior managers to include organization-level factors. This study is largely exploratory and the relationships that have be...

What Drives Good Philanthropy? The Relationship Between Governance and Strategy in Foundations

Abstract Purpose This paper examines the role that effective governance plays in driving the strategies of grant-giving foundations as it relates to supporting various types of charitable and philanthropy activities of public interest. Today, foundations are more than ever active as pivotal element of the so called ‘private welfare state’ all around Europe and the United States. While other forms of organizations involved in philanthropy and public welfare face competition (i.e. corporations), budget constrain (i.e. governments) or fundraising imperatives (i.e. NGOs), private foundations do not feel such a pressure and can, therefore, tackle social issues that other organizations may not. Despite this privileged position, the role of governance in such non-profit organizations is far from certain. Prior literature review shows the lack of empirical analysis related to the role of governance in foundations as they attempt to shape various projects of strong public interest. Design Given foundations’ unique societal role and obligations and the fiscal advantages enjoyed by them, the objective of this study is to explore the factors that drive their decision-making and resource allocation process and to examine the efficacy of their financial and non-financial resource allocation decisions. Using the data collected from 112 large Italian foundations, this paper studies the relationship between the governance mechanism and philanthropic strategies of private foundations. Findings The significance of the study is based on the fact that in the non-profit sector, more than in the for-profit one, board members are called to play a strong advisory role at the top of their traditional monitoring role. In other words, active boards are expected to screen relevant public needs and to properly invest foundations’ resources in meritorious projects; while inert boards risks to pursuit private goals, camouflaged as public interest, and to dissipate resources by unconditionally financing unrelated grant requests. Originality This paper aims to empirically examine if and how different governance attributes associate with different philanthropic strategies. The choice of Italian foundations represents an ideal research environment considering the strong reduction of governmental social spending due to the financial crisis and the simultaneous increase in the social relevance of private foundations to support social causes of significance.

Governance and Value Creation in Grant-giving Foundations

Purpose – Grant-giving foundation leaders are increasingly concerned with understanding the primary role their institutions are pressured to play in financing the growing nonprofit sectors. The main objective of the chapter is to determine whether effective governance plays a major role in driving foundations’ innovation and value-creation processes.Methodology – Building on the idea that foundations should act as financial partners, managerial experts, and innovator facilitators who deal with the projects proposed by nonprofit organizations, this chapter uses a survey and the annual reports of Italian grant-giving foundations to isolate their records in term of governance, innovation attitude, and performance.Findings – The results of this chapter contribute to improving understanding of the drivers that help foundations to improve the sophistication level of the grant-giving process. In particular, the analysis of governance provides relevant insights about the path foundations follow to incorporate selected tailored methods and practices from the “for profit” competitive arena to improve foundations’ output and nonprofit grantees’ outcomes.Social implication – Many academics, political leaders, and practitioners expect foundations to play the unique dual role of merchant bank and venture capitalist to foster the positive impact of nonprofit organizations on societies and people. The findings of this chapter facilitate this process.Originality/value of the chapter – The main contribution of this study lies in proposing and testing a theoretical framework that foundations can implement to disseminate liquidity and managerial expertise efficiently among selected grantees and to improve grantees’ social outcome.

Cultural values, institutional arrangements and stakeholder management culture: A cross-national study

Purpose This study draws upon the cultural values model, institutional theory and comparative capitalism to investigate differences in organizations’ approach to stakeholder management across country boundaries. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a multi-dimensional scale, following the stakeholder culture framework (Jones et al., 2007) to identify differences in the prevalent stakeholder cultures in the USA, Italy and Japan. Data were collected in form of a questionnaire from managers of 530 companies in the USA, Italy and Japan. Findings Results show that there are important differences in the extent to which different stakeholder cultures exist in each of these three countries, and that the prevalence of stakeholder culture types in each country is influenced by the country’s cultural values and institutional arrangements. Originality/value Understanding stakeholder management beyond the conventional firm level to a wider institutional setting has important implications for the dissemination of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices across cultures. Developing an understanding of how organizations’ stakeholder management approaches are embedded in the context of the institutional arrangements that exist in a particular country will lead to CSR practices that are better suited to the specific national context. It may also help in a more widespread acceptance of these concepts and practices.