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Financializing Stakeholder Claims

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  • Andrew Crane
  • Cameron Graham
  • Darlene Himick

Abstract

type="main"> This paper examines the role of accounting in assigning financial values to stakeholder claims. Stakeholder theorists have called for metrics managers can use to coordinate stakeholder claims. We argue that accounting already serves as the dominant example of such a tool, and that its role in measuring and representing stakeholder claims, and how those representations are used by stakeholders and managers, is not well understood. We suggest that accounting financializes stakeholder claims along three inductively-developed dimensions, namely time, security, and priority. We analyse the case of pension accounting at General Electric to theorize concerning how these dimensions shape stakeholder claims and are used by stakeholders and managers to trade-off claims, demarcate claimants into groups, and reconstruct claims during negotiations.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Crane & Cameron Graham & Darlene Himick, 2015. "Financializing Stakeholder Claims," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(7), pages 878-906, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:52:y:2015:i:7:p:878-906
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/joms.12147
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    Cited by:

    1. Tanja Schwarzmüller & Prisca Brosi & Vera Stelkens & Matthias Spörrle & Isabell M. Welpe, 2017. "Investors’ reactions to companies’ stakeholder management: the crucial role of assumed costs and perceived sustainability," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 10(1), pages 79-96, June.
    2. Himick, Darlene, 2016. "Actuarialism as biopolitical and disciplinary technique," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 22-44.
    3. Ronald K. Mitchell & Harry J. Van Buren III & Michelle Greenwood & R. Edward Freeman, 2015. "Stakeholder Inclusion and Accounting for Stakeholders," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(7), pages 851-877, November.
    4. Carola Hillenbrand & Kevin Guy Money & Chris Brooks & Nicole Tovstiga, 2019. "Corporate Tax: What Do Stakeholders Expect?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 403-426, August.

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