Pragmatically understanding stakeholder relationships and action

Stakeholder research attempts to address the role and impact of stakeholder relationships in organizational life. Stakeholders act in response to an issue that arises in the relationship with the organization. Using the example of Bioreg, an organization that manages approvals for genetically modified organisms, we explore the role of the impact of an issue on stakeholder mobilization. Organizations are, in general, more adept at dealing with the ‘rational’ interest-based actions of stakeholders but are not well equipped for responding to identity-based stakeholder responses, yet the threshold for identity–based mobilization is lower than that for interest-based action. Based on the Issue-Impact-Action framework, suggestions are proposed for appropriate stakeholder management strategies for each mode of stakeholder response.