Corporate Foundations' Governance Mechanisms as a Tool for Stakeholder Engagement

ABSTRACT Although governance and stakeholder practices have been widely researched in both the private and public sectors, governance still remains a fuzzy concept when it comes to corporate foundations (CFs). The latter target social creation, fulfilling societal needs and expectations. Using a multiple case study design in respect of 16 French CFs, this qualitative research contributes to the theoretical discussion around stakeholder engagement, examining how governance processes are implemented. Our results point out that involving the foundation's stakeholders is a roundabout way to engage in dialogue with and involve the company's stakeholders. New relationships and value propositions are then developed that have nothing to do with the company's core competencies. This study makes a major contribution to the CF' governance field by highlighting an imbalance between the impact of internal and external stakeholders, with an overinvestment of internal staff (employees and managers). The governance mechanisms are based on a three‐stage process (project submission, selection phase and final approval), in which external stakeholder involvement is limited. Finally, the analysis identifies that upward accountability practices are put in place (mainly toward the company), while horizontal accountability is respected but not publicly disclosed.