Stakeholder Salience Formulation in a Non-Western Context: Who, What and Why Actually Matters for the Organization?

The stakeholder salience typology (Mitchell, Agle & Wood, 1997) has been extensively examined by scholars ever since its introduction. Despite its valuable contribution to stakeholder management practice, the Mitchell et al.’s (1997) typology is often questioned for the exhaustiveness of its attributes – power, legitimacy and urgency. At the same time, scholarly understanding in terms of the typology’s applicability in non-Western countries is extremely limited and academic research is lacking evidence if the contextual specifications, institutional factors, and social processes of non-Western countries have any impact on the formulation of stakeholder salience. The study examines this research problem from the perspective of 63 senior managers in three non-Western countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates). The findings suggest presence of particular contextual specifications, institutional factors, and social processes that result in transforming youth from a formerly silent stakeholder group to a stakeholder group with significant influence in shaping macro level policies and regulations but also meso level organizational practices, to extent where national policies and organizational agendas with focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) revolve around them. As a result of completing the study, a couple of contributions are offered to the literature. First, with reference to the stakeholder salience literature the study offers a fourth attribute to Mitchel et al.’s (1997) typology that shapes power, legitimacy and urgency of stakeholder claims, namely context. Secondly, the study contributes to the institutional theory and CSR literature by shedding light on the institutional determinants that can shape organizational CSR agenda, particularly in terms of CSR engagement. Recommendations to policy makers and practitioners are also offered.