Stakeholder relationship management as a firm capability for sustainable performance: Unpacking mechanisms

This study conceptualizes stakeholder relationship management as a firm capability and examines the organizational mechanisms through which it enhances firm performance. Specifically, it proposes that stakeholder relationship management capability (SRMC) improves performance indirectly through knowledge exchange, which subsequently enhances innovativeness, efficiency, and organizational resilience. The study also examines whether stakeholder culture moderates the relationship between SRMC and knowledge exchange. Using survey data from 306 manufacturing firms in Turkey and structural equation modeling, we find support for the proposed mediating relationships but no evidence that stakeholder culture moderates the effect of SRMC on knowledge exchange. The study advances instrumental stakeholder theory by identifying the mechanisms through which stakeholder relationships management drives performance heterogeneity, and provides a capability-based explanation of how stakeholder relationships affect firm performance.