Learning goals

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain the key concepts and ideas that constitute stakeholder theory.
2. Articulate areas where scholars have reached consensus and areas where debates are ongoing
3. Identify the main strengths and weaknesses of stakeholder theory.
4. Be able to compare and contrast stakeholder theory with theories built on traditional economic thinking
5. Describe new trends in stakeholder theory and identify promising questions to research

Course contents

The purpose of this summer school course is to familiarize participants with stakeholder theory by reviewing the key concepts, assumptions, and relationships as well as making participants aware of the various flavors of stakeholder theory research. A second objective of the course is to introduce participants to recent developments in stakeholder theory (i.e., behavioral stakeholder theory, stakeholder governance, “new” stakeholder theory integrating the resource-based view and stakeholder theory). As stakeholder theory is gaining more and more traction in the management field, work at the intersection of stakeholder theory and more established streams of research is growing fast. Hopefully, at the end of the course, participants will have a good grasp of what stakeholder theory is and will have a solid starting point to integrate this theory in their own research.

The sessions will combine teaching by the course coordinator and by guest expert speakers who will talk about their own research and share their view on the recent developments in stakeholder theory.

The course aims to be interactive, based on discussions of the assigned readings. Preparation and active participation are crucial to creating and harvesting the value of the course.

Assessment

The course grade will be weighted as follows:

• Class participation 50%
• 5 summaries of mandatory readings 50%

Readings/Literature

The list of scientific articles to read for the course will be communicated through Canvas.

Workload (in hours)

• Online: sessions: 5 * 3 hours online
• Required literature: about 60 hours
• Writing the summary of a mandatory reading before each class: about 5 hours

Course fee: € 750

Registration: 

• ERIM Full-time PhD candidates register free of charge directly via Osiris.
• Non-ERIM members register via Osiris. Payment can be done by direct payment or invoice