Stakeholder theory and the knowledge problem: A Hayekian perspective

Vladislav Valentinov

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 2022, vol. 31, issue 2, 536-545

Abstract: This paper explores the potential for stakeholder theory to illuminate what F.A. Hayek called “the knowledge problem”, pertaining to how a society manages to utilize “knowledge not given to anyone in its totality”. According to Hayek, this problem is addressed by the price system, which induces economic actors to harness local and dispersed pieces of knowledge that would not be available to a central planner. The present paper argues that the growing turbulence in the business environment, as pointed out by stakeholder theorists, poses a challenge to the ability of corporate managers to harness local knowledge. Stakeholder theory is shown to imply that, in a turbulent environment, managers’ ability to do so is increasingly dependent on their access to the knowledge held by corporate stakeholders. This argument suggests that the building of stakeholder relationships is a crucial institutional solution to the knowledge problem.

Date: 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12383

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:buseth:v:31:y:2022:i:2:p:536-545

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