IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v185y2023i1d10.1007_s10551-022-05174-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Particularizing Nonhuman Nature in Stakeholder Theory: The Recognition Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Teea Kortetmäki

    (Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy
    School of Resource Wisdom)

  • Anna Heikkinen

    (Tampere University)

  • Ari Jokinen

    (Tampere University)

Abstract

Stakeholder theory has grown into one of the most frequent approaches to organizational sustainability. Stakeholder research has provided considerable insight on organization–nature relations, and advanced approaches that consider the intrinsic value of nonhuman nature. However, nonhuman nature is typically approached as an ambiguous, unified entity. Taking nonhumans adequately into account requires greater detail for both grounding the status of nonhumans and particularizing nonhuman entities as a set of potential organizational stakeholders with different characteristics, vulnerabilities, and needs. We utilize the philosophical concept of ‘recognition’ to provide a normative underpinning for stakeholder theorizing on nonhuman nature in both universal and difference-sensitive terms. We discuss how the status model of recognition helps identify relevant nonhumans as organizational stakeholders, establish respect, and particularize nonhumans in their distinctiveness and in partner-like ways. The implications of the recognition approach for stakeholder research are explicated with an illustrative case that exemplifies the recognition and particularization of nonhuman nature. We contribute to stakeholder research on nonhuman nature by suggesting that recognition provides a conceptual tool for theorizing the stakeholder status and particularization of nonhuman nature. Thereby, this article reduces anthropocentric bias and increases the capacity of stakeholder theorizing to confront the challenges of the ecological crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Teea Kortetmäki & Anna Heikkinen & Ari Jokinen, 2023. "Particularizing Nonhuman Nature in Stakeholder Theory: The Recognition Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 17-31, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:185:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05174-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05174-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-022-05174-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-022-05174-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seray Ergene & Marta B. Calás & Linda Smircich, 2018. "Ecologies of Sustainable Concerns: Organization Theorizing for the Anthropocene," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 222-245, May.
    2. Stephen Allen & Ann L. Cunliffe & Mark Easterby-Smith, 2019. "Understanding Sustainability Through the Lens of Ecocentric Radical-Reflexivity: Implications for Management Education," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 781-795, February.
    3. Gazi Islam, 2012. "Recognition, Reification, and Practices of Forgetting: Ethical Implications of Human Resource Management," Post-Print hal-01232667, HAL.
    4. Nardia Haigh & Andrew Griffiths, 2009. "The natural environment as a primary stakeholder: the case of climate change," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(6), pages 347-359, September.
    5. Mary Phillips, 2019. "“Daring to Care”: Challenging Corporate Environmentalism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1151-1164, June.
    6. Matias Laine, 2010. "The Nature of Nature as a Stakeholder," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 73-78, August.
    7. Andrew Crane & Trish Ruebottom, 2011. "Stakeholder Theory and Social Identity: Rethinking Stakeholder Identification," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 77-87, March.
    8. Orts, Eric W. & Strudler, Alan, 2002. "The Ethical and Environmental Limits of Stakeholder Theory," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 215-233, April.
    9. Gazi Islam, 2012. "Recognition, Reification, and Practices of Forgetting: Ethical Implications of Human Resource Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 37-48, November.
    10. Fahreen Alamgir & Ozan N. Alakavuklar, 2020. "Compliance Codes and Women Workers’ (Mis)representation and (Non)recognition in the Apparel Industry of Bangladesh," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 295-310, August.
    11. Gazi Islam, 2012. "Recognition, Reification, and Practices of Forgetting: Ethical Implications of Human Resource Management," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01232667, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang Zihan & Zafir Khan Mohamed Makhbul & Syed Shah Alam, 2024. "Green Human Resource Management in Practice: Assessing the Impact of Readiness and Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizational Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-25, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola M. Pless & Thomas Maak & Howard Harris, 2017. "Art, Ethics and the Promotion of Human Dignity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 223-232, August.
    2. Zawadzki Michał, 2018. "Dignity in the Workplace. The Perspective of Humanistic Management," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(1), pages 171-188, March.
    3. Babita Bhatt, 2022. "Ethical Complexity of Social Change: Negotiated Actions of a Social Enterprise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(4), pages 743-762, May.
    4. Kate Daisy Bone, 2021. "Cruel Optimism and Precarious Employment: The Crisis Ordinariness of Academic Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 275-290, November.
    5. Gabriele Fassauer & Ronald Hartz, 2016. "Stories of Adoration and Agony: The Entanglement of Struggles for Recognition, Emotions and Institutional Work," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 17(2), pages 173-193, August.
    6. Stéphanie Arnaud & David Wasieleski, 2014. "Corporate Humanistic Responsibility: Social Performance Through Managerial Discretion of the HRM," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 313-334, March.
    7. Gazi Islam, 2020. "Psychology and Business Ethics: A Multi-level Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-13, August.
    8. María Lucila Osorio Andrade Osorio & Sergio Madero & Regina A. Greenwood, 2019. "Humanism Under Construction: the Case of Mexican Circular Migration," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 55-69, July.
    9. Marco Guerci & Adelien Decramer & Thomas Waeyenberg & Ina Aust, 2019. "Moving Beyond the Link Between HRM and Economic Performance: A Study on the Individual Reactions of HR Managers and Professionals to Sustainable HRM," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 783-800, December.
    10. Max Visser, 2019. "Pragmatism, Critical Theory and Business Ethics: Converging Lines," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 45-57, April.
    11. Kelly Thomson & Joanne Jones, 2017. "Precarious Professionals: (in)Secure Identities and Moral Agency in Neocolonial Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 747-770, December.
    12. Taryn Renatta De Mendonca & Yan Zhou, 2019. "Environmental Performance, Customer Satisfaction, and Profitability: A Study among Large U.S. Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    13. Samantha Miles, 2017. "Stakeholder Theory Classification: A Theoretical and Empirical Evaluation of Definitions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 437-459, May.
    14. Heidi Rapp Nilsen, 2024. "Code Red for Humanity: The Role of Business Ethics as We Transgress Planetary Thresholds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 1-7, January.
    15. Charles Barthold & David Bevan & Hervé Corvellec, 2022. "An ecofeminist position in critical practice: Challenging corporate truth in the Anthropocene," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 1796-1814, November.
    16. Wendelin M. Küpers, 2020. "From the Anthropocene to an ‘Ecocene’ ―Eco-Phenomenological Perspectives on Embodied, Anthrodecentric Transformations towards Enlivening Practices of Organising Sustainably," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, May.
    17. Katherine Ravenswood, 2022. "Greening work–life balance: Connecting work, caring and the environment," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 3-18, January.
    18. Kristen Lucas, 2015. "Workplace Dignity: Communicating Inherent, Earned, and Remediated Dignity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 621-646, July.
    19. Matias Laine, 2010. "The Nature of Nature as a Stakeholder," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 73-78, August.
    20. Olga Alexandra Chinita Pirrolas & Pedro Miguel Alves Ribeiro Correia, 2022. "Literature Review on Human Resource Churning—Theoretical Framework, Costs and Proposed Solutions," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:185:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05174-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.