Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics

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Chapter 7Stakeholder Identity

The meaning of this term is so porous that there is little interpretation it seems able to resist.…

—ISAIAH BERLIN²¹²

Lack of clarity on the issue of stakeholder legitimacy has created ambiguity on the question of stakeholder identity.²¹³ That is, who are the organization’s stakeholders? In Chapter 5 I argued that obligations of stakeholder fairness create direct moral (normative) obligations. Stakeholders are those groups from whom the organization has voluntarily accepted benefits and to whom there arises a moral obligation. In Chapter 6 I argued that stakeholder status may also be derived from the power to ...