Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Whoand What Really Counts

Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the
management environment for years, but it has not attained full theo-
retical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of
stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders pos-
sessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legiti-
macy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a
typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to
managers of the firm, and research and management implications.