STARSUST - Stakeholder Relations Management for Sustainable Development (CSR and Stakeholder)

Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Jubiläumsfonds)

Stakeholder theory most often focuses either on corporations and their motivation and possibilities to deal with stakeholders (corporate perspective), or on stakeholders and their ability to influence corporations in whatever direction (stakeholder perspective). This project deals with a third perspective of stakeholder theory, neglected or at least not perceived as such so far, namely one of stakeholder relations management (SRM) from the viewpoint of a certain concept, here sustainable development (SD). Laying the theoretical foundations for this unique perspective of stakeholder theory, the project deals with four key research questions relevant in this context.

• What is the relationship between SM and the concept SD?

• Which issues of the concept SD are covered or supported by corporations and stake-holders to what extent?

• In how far is the concept SD promoted through stakeholders, respectively through SM?

• In how far is/was SM transformed through (the emergence of) the concept SD?

In addition this new perspective is linked up and compared with the other two perspectives of stakeholder theory. As a prerequisite for this concept-driven perspective is a clear understanding of what SD is, a referential framework of SD is developed. Also some links between SD, CSR and SRM are explored. On the basis of a theoretical foundation the conceptual perspective on SRM will be dealt with empirically.