Insights from the front desk. Stakeholder salience in NGO-led entrepreneurship development in Jordan

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Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Date

2023

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Strategic Management in a Changing World

Language

en

Pages

82

Series

Abstract

This study takes interest in stakeholder salience and how it is constituted in stakeholder relations of a Finnish development NGO working in Jordan to promote entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment. The study context is shaped both by the UN Sustainable Development Goals with emphasis on multistakeholder partnerships and the national policy environment with locally defined stakeholders. The theoretical starting point of the study is Jordan’s unemployment situation as a wicked problem with multiple stakeholders. The study examines their prioritisation and instumentalising and relational factors behind it with the stakeholder salience theory by Mitchell, Agle and Wood (1997). The analytical perspective builds on customer-led management and focuses on NGO staff as a valuable source of information about stakeholders. Quantitative and qualitative data for the study was collected from documents and staff members of the concerned NGO by mixed methods including a desk review, an online survey, and semi-structured interviews. Validity of the findings and interpretations was ensured in a workshop and follow-up interviews held with informants. The study validates previous research NGO stakeholder relations by confirming the salience of donors and governments as stakeholders for NGOs. However, it also challenges prior knowledge by highlighting the significance of beneficiaries and NGO staff as previously underrated stakeholders. The study continues discussion on the stakeholder salience theory by identifying gender, citizenship, and family dynamics as relational factors behind the intrinsic value of beneficiaries. It also suggests that factors such as laws and regulations, financial flows and scope of involvement serve as drivers for instrumentalisation of stakeholders. It is concluded that most factors behind stakeholder salience have both instrumentalising and relational potential. The study also calls for a more inclusive conceptualisation of stakeholders and a better recognition of multiple roles played by NGOs in Jordan’s development policy.

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Thesis advisor

Galkina, Tamara

Keywords

stakeholder, stakeholder salience, sustainable development, NGO, entrepreneurship, unemployment, Jordan

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