Abstract
This chapter suggests that there are at least five main challenges to the development of stakeholder theory as it currently stands. We need more research on understanding what counts as the total performance of a business; accounting for stakeholders rather than accounting only for investors; explaining real stakeholder behavior; formulating smart public policy given stakeholder theory; and rethinking the basics of ethical theory. Freeman explains the issues involved in each challenge and suggests ways to meet the challenge. It is a preliminary report of research in progress as well as a blueprint for how others may join the conversation to develop a more useful stakeholder theory.
Originally published in: Stakeholder Management, 1–20 © Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017
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Notes
- 1.
I use these terms interchangeably.
- 2.
I have begun this work of spelling out stakeholder theory as relational with Michelle Greenwood and Harry Van Buren in several forthcoming papers.
- 3.
This section is based on T. Jones and E. Freeman (2013), “Sustainable Wealth Creation,” working paper at University of Washington and University of Virginia.
- 4.
The spirit of this move is what Hayek (1996) and the other members of the “Austrian School” mean when they suggest that an economy is never “in equilibrium” and that the best we can say is that it moves towards equilibrium.
- 5.
This report is available at http://www.corporate-ethics.org/
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Acknowledgments
I have a number of co-authors and colleagues who have helped me with these ideas, and I have drawn heavily on a number of joint papers with them. I would like to thank them for permission to develop these ideas in the current form. In particular, thanks to Tom Jones of University of Washington, Michelle Greenwood of Monash University, Harry van Buren of University of New Mexico, Ron Mitchell of Texas Tech University, Adrian Keevil of PlusTick Partners, Rob Phillips of University of Richmond, and Bidhan Parmar at Darden. Portions of the Introduction and the section on Ethical Challenges are from Freeman (2009), copyright held by the author.
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Freeman, R.E. (2023). Five Challenges to Stakeholder Theory: A Report on Research in Progress. In: Dmytriyev, S.D., Freeman, R.E. (eds) R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics(), vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04564-6_16
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