Strategic Stakeholder Research Articles

Engaging stakeholders for change: A learning community methodology for implementing evidence-based, trauma-focused care on college campuses.

Advances in implementation science have encouraged novel methods for disseminating and implementing evidence-based treatments. Mental health services offered to trauma-exposed students on college campuses are characterized by unique contextual, developmental, and cultural factors that must be considered to effectively disseminate and implement trauma-focused, evidence-based treatments (TF-EBTs). Informed by novel implementation designs, this project utilized a strategic stakeholder engagement method of creating a learning community to identify and adapt a TF-EBT for use in university counseling centers (UCCs). Project leads convened campus and community stakeholders included UCC clinicians, administrators, student life professionals, and students, to join researchers in a reciprocal collaboration to work toward dissemination and implementation. These stakeholders participated in a learning community that reviewed, selected, and adapted a TF-EBT and other tools for dissemination and implementation to UCCs and other campus professionals. There were a number of benefits and challenges of using the learning community as a method of dissemination and implementation. Benefits included context-specific knowledge sharing, clarification of the scope of trauma among college students, creation of helpful tools, emphasis on cultural competence in TF-EBTs, and facilitating connections between professionals. Challenges included balancing flexibility with progress toward project goals and recruitment and retention of stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement is an integral component of dissemination and implementation efforts. The learning community method allowed for stakeholders to take an active part in adapting a TF-EBT for UCCs and can be utilized in other settings to aid in adoption and utilization of evidence-based treatments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the Strategic Stakeholder Perspective in City Management: The Example of Gelibolu

Kent yönetiminde stratejik yönetim yaklaşımının uygulanması, o kent için gelecekte ulaşılmak istenen amaç ve hedeflerin belirlenmesinin yanı sıra ilgili kentte yaşayan halkın beklentilerinin saptanması, yönetsel konulara katılımının sağlanması açısından önemli bir konu haline gelmiştir. Diğer taraftan yerel yönetimlerin, bölgesel ve küresel gelişmeler karşısında kentte gerçekleştirilecek faaliyetler ve atılacak adımları yapılandırmaları gerekli bir hal almıştır. Bu nedenle tüm kurum ve organizasyonların uygulama konusunda tereddüt etmediği stratejik yönetim ve bu kapsamda gerçekleştirilen stratejik planlar kentler için de gerçekleştirilmeye başlamıştır. Buradan yola çıkarak şehrin stratejik planlamasının yapılabilmesi için gerçekleştirilen araştırmada şehirde yaşayanların görüşlerine başvurulmuş, “Nasıl bir Gelibolu hayal ediyorsunuz” sorusuna yanıt aranmıştır. 1073 kişi düşünce ve görüşlerini yazılı olarak cevaplamış, elde edilen veriler transkripsiyonları gerçekleştirildikten sonra MAXQDA programı ile deşifreleri yapılarak kategorik başlıklar oluşturulmuştur. Bu kapsamda sekiz ana kategorik başlık oluşmuş ve frekans aralıklarına göre sınıflandırılmıştır.

Guns and fires: The use of military force to eradicate informal mining

Governments across the globe are increasingly adopting a more aggressive approach to combat informal artisanal mining, including the deployment of the military to prevent environmental pollution, restore degraded sites, improve environmental quality, and ensure a sustainable ecosystem. The military approach has often lacked effective stakeholder participation and failed to curb informal mining. We contribute to the debate on this subject by focusing on Ghana's military intervention to eradicate informal artisanal mining. Informal mining continues in the country's forests and waters unabated despite the fatalities, gunshot injuries, burning of excavators, and destruction of mining tools resulting from the recent military strategy – ‘Operation Halt.’ We conclude that the use of military force will have little and unsustainable effect to eradicate informal artisanal mining when the factors driving the participation in the mining activities are circumvented. Addressing the problem of unemployment, improving mineral governance and legislation in the artisanal mining sector, undertaking strategic and inclusive stakeholder engagements, and controlling partisan political decisions and participation could ensure a sustainable mining sector and eliminate the need for military force. The absence of alternative livelihoods that could provide adequate incomes for the miners would make it extremely difficult for the government to control informal mining.

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and Implementation: An Integrative Approach

Despite numerous studies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), there is a lack of definitional clarity, identifiable boundaries, and accurate measurement instruments for CSR programs and their implications for firm strategy and performance. This may be due to the problem of using CSR programs with different purposes and emphasis without knowing their different resource requirements and effects on the organization. This paper argues that it is essential for an organization’s CSR program to establish a shared value with relevant stakeholders, proposes a typology of CSR programs, and posits conditions for program implementation. A bibliometric analysis enhanced with VOSviewer mapping identifies a trend in CSR literature shifting from firm level topics such as strategy, disclosure, and financial performance to micro-CSR topics including responsible leadership, employee engagement, and nuanced implementation approaches. The shift suggests greater emphasis on stakeholder orientation, shared value, and granular CSR strategies are needed for effective CSR programs. The typology and associated propositions aim to advance theoretical and management insights for CSR programs based on a firm’s relevant stakeholders, blend of internal authenticity and external legitimacy, and a firm’s resources and capabilities. Keywords: strategic CSR, authenticity, legitimacy, responsible leadership, stakeholder theory, shared value, and social capital

COVID-19 Risk Management and Stakeholder Action Strategies: Conceptual Frameworks for Community Resilience in the Context of Indonesia.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected people’s lives globally. Indonesia has been significantly affected by this disease. COVID-19 has also affected certain social and economic aspects of Indonesia, including community resilience. Through a variety of contexts and geographic locales, we explore the previously mentioned concept of resilience. From existing literature reviews, we develop a holistic framework for community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, we formulate crucial factors for community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: natural capital, social capital, human capital, stakeholder engagement, community participation, technology, and communication. Strategic stakeholder action in the community resilience domain has facilitated increases in economic as well financial capital for adapting to and surviving deficits in productivity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is a reflection on and a comparative review of the existing literature from different countries.

Participatory Systems Mapping for Municipal Prioritization and Planning

Rapidly growing cities face new and compounding health challenges, leading governments and donors to seek innovative ways to support healthier, more resilient urban growth. One such approach is the systems mapping process developed by Engaging Inquiry (EI) for the USAID-funded Building Healthy Cities project (BHC) in four cities in Asia. This paper provides details on the theory and methods of the process. While systems mapping is not new, the approach detailed in this paper has been uniquely adapted to the purpose of municipal planning. Strategic stakeholder engagement, including participatory workshops with a diverse group of stakeholders, is at the core of this approach and led to deeper insights, greater buy-in, and shared understanding of the city’s unique opportunities and challenges. This innovative mapping process is a powerful tool for defining municipal priorities within growing cities across the globe, where the situation is rapidly evolving. It can be used to provide evidence-based information on where to invest to gain the biggest impact on specific goals. This paper is part of a collection in this issue providing a detailed accounting of BHC’s systems mapping approach across four project cities.

ICT Solutions in the D-Sys-Com Research: Analysis of the Needs and Attitudes of the Frail Elderly Person.

The introduction and use of innovative technological devices to support the aging of frail elderly people does not necessarily correspond to an improvement in people’s quality of life. The strong technical curvature resulting from the use of telemedicine models often highlights limits in the usability of technologies in responding to the real needs of users. The theoretical framework of special pedagogy allows the assumption of the bio-psycho-social perspective and the constructs of quality of life and participation and opens up to inclusive logics that implement a profound and questioning reflection on all contexts of life, with the goal of exposing the set of disabling processes and indicating a valid support in the use of technological resources. The study, retracing the research phases of the Data System Platform for Smart Communities project (project admitted for funding in the Innolabs 2018–2019 call), completed in 2020, investigates the needs of strategic stakeholders and explores the factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of telemedicine devices by frail elderly people.

The Bayelsa Health Summit: strategizing for health at a subnational level in Nigeria

Nigeria is falling short of global targets for universal health coverage (UHC) and the country's journey toward the accelerated achievement of UHC is dependent on progress made by all its subnational governments. The Bayelsa State Health Summit (BSHS) was organized by a subnational government in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria to deepen the understanding of the state's health system and to strategize for improved health outcomes. In this article we share our experience with the planning, organization and outcomes of the BSHS. The BSHS titled 'Achieving Improved Health Systems Performance through Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Engagement' was held for 3d in April 2021. More than 1800 participants across diverse national and international organizations deliberated and made recommendations across the summit theme and subthemes. At the end of the summit, the state government and summit participants resolved to enact a state health law, to develop and adopt a state 10-y health system improvement plan and to establish a Bayelsa Centre for Disease Control. The BSHS exposed the context-specific needs, challenges and expectations of the Bayelsa health system. It served as a platform for extensive stakeholder engagement and buy-in and fostered high-level political commitment for the transformation of the Bayelsa health system.

Technical Intelligence and Security Management within the Nigerian Territorial Waters: The Nigerian Navy Challenge

With the world becoming a more volatile place and certainly high - threat environments becoming too far and dangerous to send personnel, the insufficiency of human intelligence has placed a greater stress on technical aids in gathering intelligence. Technology has allowed the acquisition of intelligence to rely less on human intelligence. The progeny of modern day equipment - both offensive and defensive has made provision for myriad levels in intelligence gathering. The Gulf of Guinea Basin countries rely heavily on their maritime sector for greater per cent of their exports and imports. The Gulf of Guinea is strategic to the development of West African countries and has been characterized by various maritime crimes, thus the need for technical intelligence and surveillance measures by basin countries to enhance the security of the region. Nigeria is a strategic stakeholder in the maritime security around the Gulf of Guinea with her Navy and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency as the lead agencies responsible for her maritime security and safety. This work discusses the various leverage and the challenges of modern surveillance equipment to aid the achievement of securing the Nigerian maritime environment by the Nigerian Navy as well as her involvement in several internal security operations in Nigeria.

Disclosing the Tacit Links between Risk and Success in Organizational Development Project Portfolios

Project portfolios aim to impact organizational strategic goals, influencing both the organization’s business model and its processes. Nonetheless, the actual impact is dependent on the portfolio’s success, which is affected by the materialization of risk factors. This study aims to examine the tacit conceptualization of project portfolio risk as a risk measure explicitly based on project portfolio success itself. In order to focus on the portfolios of organizational development projects, Social Representation Theory was adopted to analyze empirical evidence from twenty-eight semi-structured interviews conducted with project portfolio practitioners. Findings showed that strategic fit, future preparedness, and stakeholder satisfaction were dimensions of success within which project portfolio risk could be conceptualized. Additionally, results evidenced that risk factors influenced project portfolio success through systematic and non-systematic impacts on project portfolio outputs, and also had direct impacts on project portfolio outcomes. This paper provides empirical evidence to back up the conceptualization of project portfolio risk explicitly oriented to portfolio success as a multidimensional risk measure. It represents a new avenue for conducting portfolio risk analysis for both practitioners and academics, orienting the decision-making process based on the portfolio success rather than only on the success of each project.

Stakeholder influence, government power, and new opportunities for Chinese Internet companies: A multilevel network analysis of cross-sector networks

In recent decades, Chinese Internet companies have experienced exponential growth. As the Internet industry increasingly commends tremendous financial resources, they also face growing stakeholder expectations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. One way through which Chinese Internet companies conduct CSR is by building cross-sectoral collaborations with nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies. Aiming to understand Internet companies’ strategic relationship building on CSR issues, the researchers drew from stakeholder influence theory and research on a network approach to stakeholder influence, and applied multilevel network analysis to model three networks related to Chinese Internet companies’ CSR collaborations. Specifically, we found that power and urgency are significant predictors of the structure of Internet companies’ cross-sector CSR alliance network. Organizations affiliated or endorsed by the central Chinese government are the most desirable CSR stakeholders. Additionally, the study also revealed that for Internet companies, devoting their attention to Internet-related social issues could increase their desirability as strategic stakeholders from other sectors and among Internet companies.

Electronic Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Overview

Information technology (IT) has become an integrated element of modern business world. In current years, the usage of IT in functioning human resource management (HRM) activities has amplified significantly. Electronic human resource management (EHRM) has the capability to expand managerial proficiency and elevate the role of employees as the strategic stakeholders. Swift technological advancements have turned EHRM into a considerable theoretical and professional agenda. This theoretical paper has made an investigation into the contemporary level of developments of the theoretical facts linked to EHRM. In this paper, the author has tried to review the various features of EHRM specially the scholastic perceptions around EHRM, the role of EHRM, the categories of EHRM; and the relationship of EHRM with contemporary business practices. The paper will hopefully contribute into HRM literature and regulate the value of EHRM practices, both theoretically and practically. It is also expected that this research will support the academicians and practitioners alike to have a complete representation of the contemporary issues related to EHRM.

Will Human Resource Development Become Too Important To Be Left to Human Resource Development Professionals? Employees and Managers as Strategic Human Resource Development Stakeholders

Will Human Resource Development Become Too Important To Be Left to Human Resource Development Professionals? Employees and Managers as Strategic Human Resource Development Stakeholders

Best Practices for Stakeholder Engagement for Government R&D Organizations

This paper identifies best practices for stakeholder engagement for Research & Development (R&D) organizations, describes findings, and makes recommendations. We identify 106 best practices for stakeholder engagement, which came from 19 sources, including corporate publications, governmental sources, standards organizations, and other similar organizations. We identify sources, review them for best practices, place the best practices into a database, group the best practices, and document our findings. We group these best practices into the seven separate objectives: 1) identify stakeholders, 2) diversify stakeholder relationships, 3) improve stakeholder communication, 4) increase all stakeholder engagement activity, especially strategic and customer stakeholder engagement activities, 5) manage stakeholder expectations, 6) increase stakeholder value and alignment, and 7) increase strategic stakeholder relationship strength. Two important best practice findings are that (a) stakeholder engagement should be a dynamic, ongoing process and (b) R&D organizations should systematically identify and prioritize strategic stakeholder engagements. We recommend that R&D organizations develop a decision support tool to identify and prioritize strategic stakeholder engagements, and then use this tool to develop and implement strategic engagement plans.

Strategic communication, enhanced sustainability and embedded communities: Assessing approaches by a platinum mine in Zimbabwe

The article assesses strategic communication approaches used by Unki mine to enhance sustainability with its embedded community from 2016 to date in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe. Strategic communication scholars have concluded that mining communities are impoverished societies. The dominant scholarship in strategic communication is European based and there is a dearth of scholarship from Africa to contribute to the debate, which prompted the researcher to study a mining company from a developing nation like Zimbabwe. The study uses constructivism philosophy and interpretivist research theory, which are subjected to a qualitative case study of the Unki mine and the Rietfontein community. Interviews, focus group discussions and documentaries were used, as well as strategic communication and stakeholder theory. The findings of the study indicate that Unki mine has implemented Social Performance Initiative (SPI) programmes at Rietfontein that address the global sustainability expectations contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Diverse strategic communication approaches, such as bottom-up, top-down, the issues approach, the Public-Private Partnership Model and the philanthropic approach, are used to engage the community for sustainability and stakeholder relationships.

Are university management teams strategic stakeholders within higher education institutions? A clinical study

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategic role played by the University Management Teams (hereafter, UMTs) as a key internal stakeholder for the successful performance and sustainability of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Regarding the UMTs, we focus on four main dimensions: profile (background and professional experience), response to a dilemmatic situation, training needs (technical and managerial skills) and strategic management orientation. By using MAXQDA (v.10) data analysis software, we apply a qualitative methodological approach, based on in-depth semi-structured and reflexive interviews with a sample of UMTs belonging to a young small-sized Spanish university, characterized by its trajectory and involvement in strategic management. We found some consensus regarding the main drivers of the UMTs managerial performance, where the seniority in the academic position, institutional engagement, previous training on management (mentorship), professionalization and strategic thought are crucial to ensuring a more flexible, adaptive, competitive and sustainable HEI in the long term.

The emergence of a Social Innovation Ecosystem in Portugal: An exploratory approach based on the perspective of strategic stakeholders

The concept of ecosystem has been used to describe a dynamic set of relationships, services and interdependencies that potentiate the creation, renewal and growth of organizations. Social innovation is largely influenced by ecosystem conditions. The Portuguese social innovation ecosystem is a particularly interesting case study, as it assumes a hybrid structure that expresses a variety of policy schemes, networks and support structures. This article debates the concept of social innovation ecosystem and presents an exploratory approach to its mapping. Based on interviews with strategic stakeholders in the social and solidarity economy and social enterprises, the study elaborates on the specificities of the social innovation ecosystem. The Portuguese ecosystem is comprised of three sub-ecosystems that show different weights, limited connections and overlapping: social economy, social business, and the social solidarity ecosystem. The article concludes with an overview of the current state of social innovation, emphasizing the perspectives of stakeholders on recent experiences that the Portuguese state has developed in establishing dialogue within organizations integrating social innovation dynamics.

Evolving Crisis and Changing Networks: NGOs’ Stakeholder Engagement on the Global Refugee Crisis

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly utilize social media for strategic stakeholder engagement. This study proposes a network-oriented theoretical framework to understand how NGOs’ engagement with complex networks of stakeholders on the global refugee issue varies as the issue moves from low to high public attention stages. We draw from research on multistakeholder issue networks and issue niche theory and analyze a large-scale Twitter data set containing tweets from hundreds of organizations from more than 30 countries. This cross-national, longitudinal study tracks issue evolution and NGOs’ tie formation patterns among themselves and with complex stakeholders (i.e., government and media) as public attention to the refugee issue increases. The results of our exponential random graph models (ERGMs) show how cross-sector stakeholders interact dynamically and how different issue identities position NGOs uniquely in issue niches as the issue evolves. We also find that organizations’ country-level homophily influences tie formation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Youtube as alternative media for digital activism in documentary film creative industry

The development of the digital world provides ample scope to activists who are also engaged in Documentary Film Industry. In line with the democratic and deliberative spirit, YouTube, one of the social media platforms, has become an alternative media with a strategic positioning to be used by film activists to distribute their works. This research applied literature review and descriptive quantitative content analysis as a methodology. Based on alternative media theory, YouTube is alternative media that filmmakers utilise in the documentary film creative industry. Documentary films are products of the film industry and aspiration, identity struggle, and artistic expression. As a media representation of communication technology, YouTube provides ample opportunities for art activists to convey their critical ideas to voicing marginal groups’ aspirations. Based on reviewing the Watchdoc YouTube account, this research findings that YouTube supports filmmakers to develop interactive documentary and collaborative actions with other strategic stakeholders, such as Production House, NGO, individual activists, social communities, and educational institutions. According to the practising of digital activism, this phenomenon gives another perspective about building an activist network. Activism through the creative documentary industry is not reflected as people mobilisations but building engagement through the product (documentary film).

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Associated Factors among Selected Security Personnel in Edo State, Nigeria

Background: Vaccination is a cost-effective public health intervention to prevent and or contain the spread of communicable diseases such as COVID-19. The level of uptake of vaccines across selected population such as security personnel is strategic towards attaining herd immunity. This study assessed the level of uptake of COVID-19 vaccination among security personnel in Edo State, Nigeria to aid planning for improved vaccine roll out among target population.
 Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to obtain quantitative data from 482 security personnel from selected Security Agencies in Benin City between 1st February 2021 and 31st May 2021. Data collected were analysed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 statistical software with statistical significance set at p ˂ 0.050 and 95% Confidence Interval.
 Results: The mean age of respondents was 41.5 (± 7.2) years. Three hundred and forty-four (71.4%) had positive attitude towards COVID 19 preventive measures. Furthermore, 242 (50.2%) had been vaccinated against Covid-19 respectively. The category of security agency was a significant determinant of COVID-19 vaccination with the odds of being vaccinated being higher among police officers (OR: 4.724; CI= 2.674- 8.344; p <0.001), Immigration Officers (OR: 3.401; CI=1.960 - 5.902; p < 0.001), FRSC (OR: 3.096; CI=1.785 - 5.374; p < 0.001) compared to EDSTMA Officers. Finally, the odds of being vaccinated was significantly lower among respondents with negative attitude (OR: 0.412; CI=0.270 - 0.629; p < 0.001) compared to respondents with positive attitude towards COVID-19 preventive measures.
 Conclusion: A gap was identified between the attitude of security personnel towards COVID-19 preventive measures and their vaccination uptake. Strategic stakeholder engagement and continuous sensitization meetings are essential to help dispel myths and clarify misconceptions on COVID-19 vaccine for improved vaccination uptake among target population.