The institutional transformation and the stakeholders’ salience

Overview & Synopsis

An established stream of literature in institutional tradition suggests that as institutional change process unfolds in the field, dominant institutional logic shifts. The implications of such shifts in institutional logic for the broader network of relationships of various constituents are still not clear. This thesis, therefore, aims to uncover the dynamics of firm-stakeholders relationships in a field undergoing a robust institutional change process. In order to understand these evolving relationships in emerging country’s context, Mitchell et al.’s (1997) framework of stakeholder salience has been employed as an underlying theoretical framework. This thesis also makes several conceptual and empirical contributions to this framework and strengthens its theoretical underpinnings. Overall, using data collected through semi-structured interviews and archival material, this dissertation suggests strong dominant institutional logic-stakeholder salience relationship. Moreover, this thesis provides several lessons for managers and researchers that may help to better set firms’ strategic direction.