Wineries' contribution to the local community: a stakeholder view

While various authors recognise the socioeconomic importance of wineries in various nations, this area continues to be under-researched, including in major wine producing countries and regions. This exploratory study adds to the currently limited literature, adopting stakeholder theory to investigate wineries' contribution towards the community from the perspective of predominantly micro and small Italian winery operators. The findings reveal wineries' strong socioeconomic impacts, particularly through the dissemination of knowledge about the wine region and wine tourism development. In addition to providers, sponsors, guardians and promoters, other important stakeholder groups, such as educators, reorganisers, and engagers were identified. Furthermore, several alignments with various theses of stakeholder theory emerged, namely, between the descriptive thesis and intrinsic value, instrumental thesis and implicit benefits, and normative thesis and consideration of stakeholders' interests. Given the significance of the wine industry, both in Italy and in neighbouring nations, the overall findings have important implications.