یکپارچگی ذینفعان، گرایش پایداری زیست محیطی ESO و عملکرد مالی

ABSTRACT Stakeholder integration, environmental sustainability orientation and financial performance

In countries of the Global South characterized by institutional voids such as lack of an effective legal system, corporate malfeasance, inadequate institutional support and policy uncertainty, stakeholder integration may well be a catalyst in driving corporate behavior and firm performance (Khanna & Palepu, 2005; Mair & Marti, 2009). Stakeholder integration refers to partnerships where organizational stakeholders such as customers, communities and suppliers inform organizational practices to deliver improved performance (Amankwah Amoah, Adomako, & Danso, 2018; Desai, 2018; Plaza-Úbeda, de Burgos-Jiménez, & Carmona-Moreno, 2010; Sharma & Vredenburg, 1998). Indeed, some studies indicate that stakeholder engagement activities influence firms’ competitiveness advantage (Madsen & Ulhøi, 2001; Vachon & Klassen, 2008). Accordingly, stakeholder integration has become a pivotal feature of the operation of firms. Notwithstanding the growing theoretical and empirical interest in stakeholder integration in managerial decision-making (e.g., ErdiawKwasie, Alam, & Kabir, 2017; Li, Xia, & Zajac, 2018), our current understanding regarding how stakeholder integration relates to financial performance remains limited. We propose that stakeholder integration can stimulate financial performance by prompting organizations to engage in environmental sustainability orientation (ESO). Thus, by examining the mediating mechanism theoretically and empirically, we show how stakeholder integration affects financial performance. Furthermore, there is a paucity of research examining the relevant contingencies in ESO.

Accordingly, we seek to address these gaps in the literature. We develop and test a model in an emerging country setting – Ghana. Being an emerging economy, firms in Ghana face many institutional challenges. Thus, in such a context, stakeholder integration may help to provide the needed structural support to mitigate the weak institutional structures and consequently enhance the financial performance of the firms.

We contribute to the stakeholder theory and environmental sustainability literature in two major ways. First, we extend prior studies (e.g., Bridoux & Stoelhorst, 2014; Criado-Gomis, Cervera-Taulet, & Iniesta-Bonillo, 2017; Harrison, Bosse, & Phillips, 2010; Hernández Perlines & Cisneros, 2018; Jones, Harrison, & Felps, 2018; Nidumolu, Prahalad, & Rangaswami, 2009; Patel, Manley, Hair Jr, Ferrell, & Pieper, 2016) by examining whether the relationship between stakeholder integration and financial performance is mediated by ESO.

Second, we integrate industry competition as a contingent factor on the relationship between stakeholder integration and ESO. Thus, we further extend the boundaries of the stakeholder literature (e.g., Aarseth, Rolstadås, & Andersen, 2011; Andersen, 2008; Eskerod, Huemann, & Ringhofer, 2015; Freeman, 1984) and ESO literature (Amankwah Amoah et al., 2018; De Menezes, Wood, & Gelade, 2010; Feng et al., 2018; Sarkis & Cordeiro, 2001). Overall, we contribute to a novel understanding on the importance of stakeholder integration in firm success.

This paper is structured as follows. After the introduction, the second part presents the theoretical background and the hypotheses development. This is followed by analysis of the research method and findings. The final section focuses on the implications of the results as well as the limitations of the study and direction for future research.