Stakeholder governance: how stakeholders influence corporate decision making

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how stakeholders are voluntarily granted influence in corporate decision making. Design/methodology/approach – The stakeholder governance practices of 46 companies were explored in a multiple comparative case analysis, drawing on publicly available sources. Findings – The research finds that stakeholders are granted a voice regarding operational, managerial as well as strategic issues. The power granted to stakeholders varies from non‐participation to co‐decision making. The majority of engagements found are a combination of low power and low scope of participation, which are limited in their potential to align the views of those inside and outside the corporate boundaries. Research limitations/implications – The data used in this research relied on publicly available sources, such as company reports, articles and web sites. Practical implications – By seeing an array of different stakeholder governance mechanisms managers can reflect on their own approach to stakeholders and see how other companies use stakeholder engagement for scenario planning and innovation. Originality/value – The paper is the first to empirically analyse a broad range of companies regarding their voluntary stakeholder engagement mechanisms. This design allows the creation of a heuristic for stakeholder governance as well as for identifying clusters.