Stakeholder relationship management as a firm capability for sustainable performance: An integration of insights from stakeholder theory and resource-based theory

Recent calls by some leading scholars in the field of strategic management indicate the need for more research done to integrate insights of stakeholder theory and resource-based theory. These calls suggest the potentiality of each theory to extend and complete the other. One way this integration could be done is the examination of stakeholder relationship management as a firm capability that could contribute to sustainable superior performance. Although a few previous studies have acknowledged related ideas, they have remained untested. This dissertation, motivated by these recent scholarly suggestions, integrates insights of the two theories by using the resource-based theory to assess stakeholder relationship management as a firm capability, as well as proposing and empirically testing a model of its value. It proposed that stakeholder relationships management positively affect firm learning, innovativeness, efficiency, resilience, and performance, making it a valuable capability. It tested these propositions with a data gathered from manufacturing firms in Ankara and Istanbul, Türkiye; and analyzed using structural equation modelling in Stata 18 BE. The findings supported most of the study's hypothesis, confirming the value of stakeholder relationships management. The study further argues that since each firm is embedded in a unique stakeholder network and aspects of stakeholder relationships like trust are not easily imitable, firms that organize to attain the value from the capability could sustain such benefits. The dissertation contributes to strategic management and the two theories severally. First, it advances the instrumental stream of stakeholder theory, further enhancing its broader alignment with the mainstream strategic management theories. It also advances the dynamic view of stakeholder relationships management, by demonstrating its enhancement of firm learning, innovativeness and resilience. It further demonstrates the mechanisms linking stakeholder relationships management to firm performance, which are understudied. For RBT it broadens its focus on internal resources to also consider how managing both internal and external relationship resources leads to sustainable performance. It also provide empirical validation of RBT propositions. Finally, it contributes to resolving tensions between stakeholder theory and resource-based theory, by demonstrating their complementarity.