Developing and Validating a Measure of Stakeholder Culture for the Not-for-Profit Sector

Abstract

Jones et al.’s (Acad Manag Rev 32(1):137–155, 2007) typology of stakeholder culture, representing the beliefs, values and practices that an organization has towards its stakeholders, has received widespread recognition. Yet, the literature lacks an instrument to quantify the typology. This study provides such an instrument by constructing and validating a scale of Jones et al.’s (2007) four other-regarding stakeholder cultures of corporate egoist, instrumentalist, moralist and altruist in the not-for-profit (NFP) context. Mail survey data were collected from top management of 621 Australian NFP companies limited by guarantee that were drawn from various online databases. Exploratory factor analysis produced a five-factor structure with the altruist factor split into two sub-factors. Confirmatory factor analysis supported Jones et al.’s (2007) typology by showing a satisfactory fit of a four-factor model. A major contribution of the study is that the scale may be used in future research into stakeholder culture and salience in NFPs and similar organizations.