Company’s inclusive approach to internal and external stakeholders: In search for theories and concepts

Objective: The article aims to explore the current state of knowledge on inclusion and identify manifestations of the company’s inclusive approach described in the literature. The objective of the article is to answer the following questions: (1) What theories and inclusion-related concepts may provide insight into an inclusive approach of a company in its relations with internal and external stakeholders? (2) How does the company’s inclusiveness manifest itself in relations with those stakeholders? (3) How should we understand the concept of an inclusive approach (inclusiveness), with particular regard to internal (employees) and external (customers) stakeholders? Research Design & Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) following the seven-step procedure. It included both a bibliometric and content analysis of the articles retrieved from the Scopus database. We used VOSviewer to identify the most influential publications and the most popular concepts related to inclusiveness and inclusion. Findings: We indicated the main theories used in inclusion studies, among which the most important ones were: stakeholder theory, social exchange theory, institutional theory, diversity management, and inclusive leadership theory. We developed a list of inclusive approach manifestations concerning both, employees and customers. Specific manifestations of the employee-inclusive approach regarded areas of organisational culture, management and leadership, as well as human resource management. We identified specific manifestations of a consumer-inclusive approach in the fields of marketing and customer experience. Moreover, the literature review allowed us to identify more general manifestations of a stakeholder-inclusive approach in the area of corporate governance. We operationalised the category of an ‘inclusive approach’ in a company’s activity based on the critical elements of inclusion definitions identified during the review, i.e., stakeholder inclusion, financial inclusion, and social inclusion. Implications & Recommendations: These SLR results should facilitate developing a theoretical foundation for studying the concept of inclusion and inclusiveness as well as implementing this concept in modern organisations. They also indicate important directions for future studies in this field, e.g., the impact of the organisation’s inclusive approach on building its strategic advantage, competitiveness, and resilience. Contribution & Value Added: The article refers to the relatively understudied concept of the company’s inclusive approach towards its main stakeholders, i.e., employees and customers. It contributes to the existing body of knowledge by listing the most significant theoretical frameworks used to study inclusion and identifying a broad range of symptoms representing the inclusive approach.