The influence of stakeholder on a company's sustainable practice: Insights from the Japanese perspective

Abstract

Sustainable development operations in the business sector are continuously growing. Motivation for sustainability issues and stakeholder identification have been explored for strategy development and prioritization. However, the understanding of the relationship between stakeholder groups and sustainability practices is limited. This study focuses on primary and secondary stakeholders from stakeholder theory and examines sustainability issues in the business context. Through a questionnaire survey, the research aims to validate the direct impact of stakeholder groups on each dimension of sustainable business. The survey was conducted among employees of Japanese companies from both the industrial and service sectors, and confirmatory analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. Our results demonstrate that both primary and secondary stakeholders are involved in all aspects of sustainable practices. We observed that primary stakeholder groups primarily influenced sustainable practices in the industrial sector, whereas secondary stakeholder groups predominantly affected the service sector. An examination of specific actors revealed that suppliers and the media played a significant role in all dimensions of business sustainability. Finally, this study supports the assertion that normative pressure may be the primary factor that convinces companies to adapt successfully and achieve their sustainable development goals.