Manufactured stakeholder voice in global value chain sustainability governance: Toward a conceptual model of astroturfing

Abstract Sustainability governance in global value chains increasingly relies on stakeholder identification and engagement to determine which issues and claims are material and what should be reported, enforced, and managed across dispersed production and consumption networks. Organizations or intermediaries may manipulate these participatory processes by manufacturing apparently independent stakeholder voice, a phenomenon conceptualized in this paper as astroturfing. Existing explanations of governance shortcomings emphasize greenwashing and decoupling, leaving the composition and credibility of stakeholder voice underexamined. Drawing on an integrative review of research on astroturfing, global value chain governance, legitimacy, and stakeholder voice, the paper develops a conceptual model explaining how astroturfing may shape sustainability governance decisions through three mechanisms: (1) reweighting stakeholder voice, whereby constituency simulation alters the perceived balance of support or opposition; (2) reframing evaluation criteria, whereby manufactured voice redirects attention toward preferred proxies, metrics, or definitions of sustainability progress; and (3) recalibrating enforcement intensity, whereby apparently broad-based contestation weakens or delays governance responses. The conceptual model further proposes that the influence of these mechanisms depends on disclosure and accountability regimes, issue salience, public regulatory oversight, and the authentication of stakeholder mandates. The paper contributes to sustainability governance and global value chain scholarship by positioning constituency authenticity as a central yet undertheorized governance variable in cross-border sustainability initiatives. Practical implications are also identified for multistakeholder initiatives, auditors, buyers, and policymakers seeking to reduce governance systems’ vulnerability to manufactured stakeholder voice.