Various authors advocate consideration of stakeholder value concerns in organizational decision making. Brenner and Cochran (1990, 1991) propose a stakeholder theory of the firm which contains several propositions and a stakeholder value matrix. In order to begin any stakeholder model validation, an approach is needed to measure stakeholder value and influence weights. We propose a multicriteria decision modeling approach, utilizing the analytic hierarchy process, to estimate stakeholder value matrix weights. This approach is illustrated using a simplified example and suggestions are made regarding the process needed to begin to validate the stakeholder theory of the firm.
Certain business practices include legal but ethically questionable activities. Surveys intended to determine the nature and extent of such activities must employ questioning methods which mitigate the inherent threat of sensitive questions and account for social desirability effects. This study uses a national mail survey of chief executive officers (CEOs) of manufacturing firms to compare the performance of direct questioning, scenario, and randomized response methods for estimating the prevalence of several sensitive business practices. The direct questioning and scenario versions used self‐reporting (individual‐based) questions, as well as the CEO's perceptions of the extent to which others engage in questionable activities (other‐based). In general, the estimates of the prevalence of selected questionable activities were lowest when the individual‐based direct questioning was used and highest when other‐based (either direct questioning or scenario) methods were used. The individual‐ based scenario and randomized response estimates represented intermediate estimates. Suggested guidelines for using the three methods for eliciting sensitive information are discussed.
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