Company Stakeholder Capability Relationship and Company's Investment in Innovation Activities

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Prof., Department of Accounting, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

2 Associate Prof., Department of Accounting, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandargaz, Iran.

3 Assistant Prof., Department of Accounting, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran.

Abstract

Objective: Stakeholders have a great impact on corporate behavior and performance and provide them with necessary resources for investment. Therefore, using the Structural Equation Modeling approach, this study examines the effect of the stakeholder relationship capability on corporate investment in innovative activities.
Methods: This study employs meta-synthesis analysis, Delphi analysis and a research-made questionnaire to measure stakeholder relationship capability, and four proxies of individual, technical, environmental and operational innovation to measure corporate innovation. The questionnaire is sent to 151 managers in year 2018. Finally, 102 managers answered the questionnaires.
Results: Having ensured the good-fitness of the evaluation and structural models, the results show that the stakeholder relationship capability improves the firm's innovation.
Conclusion: Stakeholder relationship capability assist mangers in identifying stakeholders’ innovation needs and consequently, interacting with them to attract new resources and ideas, and as a result, more investment in innovative activities. These findings suggest the importance of the stakeholder relationship capability in firm's investment in innovation activities.

Keywords


Benson, B. W. & Davidson, W. N. (2010). The relation between stakeholder management, Firm Value, and CEO compensation: A Test of Enlightened Value Maximization. Financial Management, 39(3), 929-963.
Berrone, P., Fosfuri, A., Gelabert, L., & Gomez-Mejia, L. R. (2013). Necessity as the mother of ‘green’ inventions: Institutional pressures and environmental innovations. Strategic Management Journal, 34(8), 891–909.
Bohren, O., Josefsen, M. G. & Steen, P. E. (2012). Stakeholder conflicts and dividend policy, Journal of Banking & Finance, 36(10), 2852–2864.
Bridoux, F., & Stoelhorst, J. W. (2016). Stakeholder relationships and social welfare: A behavioral theory of contributions to joint value creation. Academy of Management Review, 41(2), 229–251.
Chenhall, R. H. (2005). Integrative strategic performance measurement systems, strategic alignment of manufacturing, learning and strategic outcomes: An exploratory study. Accounting, Organization and Society, 30(5), 395-422.
Choi, J., & Wang, H. (2009). Stakeholder relations and the persistence of corporate financial performance, Strategic Management Journal, 30(8), 895–907.
Damanpour, F., & Evan, W. M. (1984). Organizational innovation and performance: The problem of organizational lag. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29(3), 392–409.
Desai, V. M. (2018). Collaborative stakeholder engagement: An integration between theories of organizational legitimacy and learning. Academy of Management Journal, 61(1), 220–244.
Donaldson, T., Preston, L. E. (1995). Stakeholders Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65–91.
Fornell, C., Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39-50.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., & Wicks, A. C. (2007). Managing for stakeholders: Survival, reputation and success. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Gao, J., & Slawinski, N. (2015). The Impact of Stakeholder Management on Corporate International Diversification, Business and Society Review, 120(3), 409-433.
Golmohammadi, M., Pourheidari, O., Baharmoghaddam, M. (2017). Studying the Impact of Stakeholder Management on Dividends and Firm Value. Accounting and Auditing Review, 24(3), 371-394. (in Persian)
Hajiha, Z., & Kharatzadeh, M. (2014). Investigating the relationship between the application of management accounting innovations and financial performance indicators in accepted companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. Journal of Management Accounting and Auditing Knowledge, 4(14), 105-123. (in Persian)
Harrison, J. S., & Wicks, A. C. (2013). Stakeholder theory, value, and frm performance. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23(1), 97–124.
Harrison, J. S., Bosse, D. A., & Phillips, R. A. (2010). Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 31(1), 58–74.
Hekkert, M. P., Suurs, R. A. A., Negro, S. O., Kuhlmann, S., & Smits, R. E. H. M. (2007). Functions of innovation systems: A new approach for analyzing technological change. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 74(4), 413-432.
Henisz, W. J., Dorobantu, S., & Nartey, L. J. (2014). Spinning gold: The financial returns to stakeholder engagement. Strategic Management Journal, 35(12), 1727–1748.
Herremans, I. M., Nazari, J. A., & Mahmoudian, F. (2016). Stakeholder relationships, engagement, and sustainability reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(3), 417–435.
Isaee Tafreshi, M. & Yahyapour, J. (2013). Stakeholder Theory with a View on Regulations of Stock Companies. Quarterly Journal of Securities Exchange, 23(6), 139-167. (in Persian)
Jiang, W., Wang, A. X., Zhou, K. Z. Zhang, C. (2019). Stakeholder Relationship Capability and Firm Innovation: A Contingent Analysis. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04161-4
Jones, T. M., Harrison, J. S., & Felps, W. (2018). How applying instrumental stakeholder theory can provide sustainable competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 43(3), 371–391.
Landry, R., Amara, N., Lamari, M. (2002). Does social capital determine innovation? To what extent? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 69, 681-701.
Li, J., Xia, J., & Zajac, E. J. (2018). On the duality of political and economic stakeholder influence on firm innovation performance: Theory and evidence from Chinese firms. Strategic Management Journal, 39(1), 193–216.
Miles, M. P., Munilla, L. S., & Covin, J. G. (2002). The constant gardener revisited: The effect of social blackmail on the marketing concept, innovation and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics, 41(3), 287–295.
Namazi, M., Moghimi, F. (2018). Effects of Innovations and Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Financial Performance of the Firms Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange in Different Industries. Accounting and Auditing Review, 25(2), 289-310. (in Persian)
Ni, N., Egri, C., Lo, C., & Lin, Y. Y. (2013). Patterns of corporate responsibility practices for high financial performance: Evidence from three Chinese societies. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(2), 169–183.
Onetti, A., Zucchella, A., Jones, M. V., McDougall-Covin, P. P. (2012). Internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship: Business models for new technology-based firms. Journal of Management and Governance, 16(3), 337-368.
Parmar, B. L., Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., de Colle, S., & Purnell, L. (2010). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. Academy of Management Annals, 4(1), 403–445.
Rodil, X., Vence, M., & Sánchez, M. C. (2016). The relationship between innovation and export behaviour: The case of Galician firms. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 113(3), 248–265.
Romijn, H., Albaladejo, M. (2002). Determinants of innovation capability in small electronics and software firms in southeast England. Research Policy, 31, 1053-1067.
Scott, S. G., Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37(3), 580–607.
Seleshi, S., Birnberg, G. J. (2010). Extent and Scope of Diffusion and Adoption of Process Innovations in Management Accounting Systems International. Journal of Accounting and Information Management, 18(2), 118-139.
Sharma, S., & Vredenburg, H. (1998). Proactive corporate environmental strategy and the development of competitively valuable organizational capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 19(8), 729–753.
Taghizadeh Khaneghah, V., Badavar Nahandi, Y. (2019). Philanthropic Activities and Companies Innovation under Conditions of Information Asymmetry. Journal of Health Accounting, 8(1), 89-105. (in Persian)
Tong, L., Liu, N., Zhang, M., Wang, L. (2018). Employee Protection and Corporate Innovation: Empirical Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics, 153(2), 569-589.
Voegtlin, C., & Scherer, A. G. (2017). Responsible innovation and the innovation of responsibility: Governing sustainable development in a globalized world. Journal of Business Ethics, 143(2), 227–243.
Wang, H, M.D., & Sengupta, S. (2016). Stakeholder relationships, brand equity, firm performance: A resource-based perspective. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5561-5568.
Yang, D., Wang, A. X., Zhou, K. Z., & Jiang, W. (2018). Environmental strategy, institutional force, and innovation capability: A managerial cognition perspective. Journal of Business Ethics. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3830-5.