The virtuous cycle of stakeholder salience and cooperation in urban governance: Evidence from Brazilian cities

• Cooperative stakeholders seem to have more salience as seen from urban policymakers • Cooperative behaviors can build trust and show stakeholder commitment to shared goals • Urban managers are more likely to involve salient stakeholders in decision-making • Involving salient stakeholders could lead to higher legitimacy and cooperation • The proposed virtuous cycle of salience/cooperation must be further tested/validated Stakeholder salience (SS), characterized by attributes such as power, urgency, and legitimacy, and stakeholder cooperation (SC) play critical roles in urban governance; however, the interplay between these constructs remains underexplored. Our study investigates the relationship between SS and SC from the perspective of urban managers interacting with diverse urban stakeholder groups (e.g., governments, industry, citizens, and civil society). Drawing on stakeholder theory and empirical data from interviewing 79 Brazilian urban managers via adapted validated psychometric scales, we explored these relationships using correlation and regression analyses, controlling for demographic factors. Our key findings suggest the possibility of a reciprocal relationship, pointing towards a potential positive feedback loop where cooperation may be associated with increased salience (explaining nearly 48% of its variance), and higher salience, in turn, could be related to fostering further cooperation (accounting for approximately 46% of its variance). It is important to note that our sample data allowed us to conduct only descriptive and partial correlation analyses, which do not enable us to establish causation between SS and SC. Nevertheless, our results contribute to the literature by integrating stakeholder theory with social capital theory and highlighting the potential managerial implications of fostering cooperation to enhance stakeholder engagement in urban governance. Our study also offers preliminary policy recommendations for urban managers, businesses, and civil society organizations on how to potentially leverage cooperation for improved decision-making and more inclusive urban governance.