WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE : A PLACE-BASED THEORY OF INDIGENOUS STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Abstract
Purpose: We address the limitations in the stakeholder literature by exploring and developing the theoretical implications of the ongoing tensions between firms and Indigenous communities over issues relating to land and... [ view full abstract ]
Purpose: We address the limitations in the stakeholder literature by exploring and developing the theoretical implications of the ongoing tensions between firms and Indigenous communities over issues relating to land and physical place.
Approach: Using the construct of topophilia as a core orienting concept, we integrate stakeholder theory and the literature on institutional logics to explore why such conflicts with Indigenous stakeholders arise and how they can be mitigated. We propose a place-based theory of managing Indigenous stakeholders that integrates stakeholder theory and the research on institutional logics to propose theoretical reasons for why these conflicts arise and how can be mitigated.
Findings: We argue that stakeholder theory has not paid adequate attention paid to the role of physical place in managing stakeholder relations. In the area of Indigenous stakeholder management, we believe one of the most promising and needed directions for research is a fine-grained examination of contingency factors to better understand how these differences manifest themselves in terms of the nature and degree of conflict with firms.
Implications (social/practical): Emphasizing physical place rather than abstract space has a number of implications for concepts such as stakeholder definition and stakeholder ‘proximity’, and helps address the criticism that extant research does not adequately consider the importance of stakeholders’ identity. By orienting our study around a construct of key importance to Indigenous stakeholders (i.e., topophilia), we overcome several common assumptions that have created lacunae of understanding in the extant literature on stakeholder theory, which tends to take a firm-centric approach, to assume that the stakeholder-firm relationship is already established (rather than nascent), and to view stakeholder relations from the perspective of western institutional logics.
Authors
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Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi
(Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan)
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Charlie E. Stevens
(Lehigh University)
Topic Area
Topics: International Business
Session
IB - 3 » International Business - Session 3 (12:15 - Wednesday, 5th September, G03)
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