Operationalizing Stakeholder Engagement in CSR: A Process Approach

Stakeholder engagement is an important aspect of an organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, but little theorizing informs its implementation. In this paper, the authors relate data from stakeholder engagement activities undertaken by nine Australian organizations as part of their CSR efforts, to an existing process model of engagement. The original framework is extended and enhanced into a process model of the operationalization of stakeholder engagement. Practically, this research identifies the steps within the operationalization of stakeholder engagement, allowing engagement practitioners to track the progress of their work, and to identify and respond to any impediments. Theoretically, the proposed process model approach presents a new perspective on operationalizing stakeholder engagement. The revised model of stakeholder engagement therefore provides a lens that gives deeper insights into how engagement is carried out; as well as a practical framework through which this implementation can be understood and managed.