Stretching issue selling beyond organizational boundaries: The influence of external issue selling

Abstract

We discuss an under-theorized theme in the issue-selling literature by analyzing how external issue selling influences internal issue selling. Our study is based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers that act as “issue sellers” vis-à-vis other internal actors they approach as “issue buyers”. While prior research has mainly conceptualized issue selling as an internal organizational endeavor, our study finds that an important activity of issue sellers is to establish relationships with external stakeholders. We find that sellers engage with external stakeholders to influence them to create a beneficial institutional climate to adopt the issue. Sellers also create external legitimacy about how the organization addresses the issue, which can create both positive and negative repercussions on internal buyers: it enhances internal acceptance for the issue at stake, but can also be considered as a distraction among internal buyers. Furthermore, sellers leverage external stakeholders to create external demand and pressure to adopt the issue. Our study advances the issue-selling literature by expanding the issue-selling process beyond organizational boundaries and showing how various externally-oriented issue-selling moves influence the internal issue-selling process.