MGT723 Research Project For Stakeholder Theory

y, the expectations and the necessities of the stakeholders needs to be kept in mind by the firms. Descriptions and predictions regarding the operations of the companies on reducing carbon emissions under different conditions are usually provided in the stakeholder theory. The stakeholders of a firm mainly have the objective of evaluating the degree of influence on the organization (Depoers, Jeanjean and Jérôme 2016). It is the requirement of the stakeholder theory that influence of the stakeholders on the company needs to be understood along with the responses adopted by the companies with regard to the carbon emissions. Thus, conceptual framework regarding the stakeholder theory is one of the most important concepts. The concerned theory comes with reasonable explanation regarding environmental disclosure subject to availability of empirical evidence.

All the stakeholders of a company are their shareholders but all the shareholders of a company are not the stakeholders of the company. The shareholders of a company, customers of a company as well the employees of the company can also be the stakeholders of the company. Thus, the main difference between the shareholders and the stakeholders of a company are that the shareholders only have shares in a company while in a company, the stakeholders have interests in the performance of the companies (Hahn, Reimsbach and Schiemann 2015). Challenges are placed in the company resources usually by the stakeholders. Thus, on taking initiatives to reduce the carbon emissions by a company is of concern to the stakeholders of the company as this initiative is likely to impact the performances of the companies and on the contrary, the future of the stakeholders is also dependent on this.  

A lot of analysis has been performed to establish the relationship between carbon emission and the performance of the environment such as climatic changes. None of these results from these researches have been consistent. From previous researches, it has however been found out that there is a negative relationship on the size of the firm and carbon emissions by the firm (Laplume, Sonpar and Litz 2008). It is the assumption from the stakeholder theory that the carbon emission of the superior firms has been found to be significantly different from the carbon emission by the inferior firms.

There has been reduction in the amount of emissions of carbon in the countries that are developed such as, Australia, European Union, United Kingdom as well as many other countries. The emission will be less in the world if the amount of carbon emitted by the developing countries could also be increased. The reduction in the carbon emissions in these countries will in turn help in the growth of the country as well as for its development. It has been observed in countries like, China, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia etc., that initiatives have been adopted in order to achieve sustainable development with the help of the reduction in the carbon emissions (Clarkson 1995). The major causes of the greenhouse emissions are due to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial processes and agricultural activities.

Conceptual Model 

Hypotheses

Null Hypothesis (H₀): There are no significant differences in the carbon emissions after adopting the measures for reduction in the carbon emissions.

Alternate Hypothesis (H₁): There are significant differences in the carbon emissions after adopting the measures for reduction in the carbon emissions.

Proxy Measures for Theoretical Constructs

Theoretical Construct	Proxy measure (From CDP survey provided)	Dependent (DV) and Independent (IV).   Control Variable (CV)	Measurement Scale: Nominal, Ordinal, or Scale (Ratio)
Percentage Change in Carbon Emissions	CDP Data	DV	Ratio
Carbon Emission	CDP Data	IV	Scale
Factors influencing Carbon Emission	CDP Data	CV	Nominal

Research Methods

This research on Carbon disclosure will be conducted mainly based on the Carbon disclosures and emissions of the companies belonging to the Automobiles and Components industry. A sample of 70 companies across the globe has been obtained from the data randomly and the analysis will be performed based on the data obtained from these companies. All the analysis will be performed in statistical software SPSS.  

References

Clarkson, M.B.E (1995) A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance, The Academy of Management Review 20(1) pp. 92-117.

Depoers, F., Jeanjean, T. and Jérôme, T., 2016. Voluntary disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions: Contrasting the carbon disclosure project and corporate reports. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(3), pp.445-461.

Donaldson, T. and Preston, L.E. (1995) The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implications, The Academy of Management Review 20(1) pp. 85-91.

Hahn, R., Reimsbach, D. and Schiemann, F., 2015. Organizations, climate change, and transparency: Reviewing the literature on carbon disclosure. Organization & Environment, 28(1), pp.80-102.

Laplume, A.O., Sonpar, K., and Litz, R.A. (2008) Stakeholder theory: reviewing a theory that moves us, Journal of Management 34(6) pp. 1152-1189.

Lou, L., Tang, Q., and Lan, Y-C. (2013) Comparison of propensity for carbon disclsoure between developing and developed countries, Accounting Research Journal 26(1) pp 6-34.

Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R., and Wood, D. J. (1997) Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts, The Academy of Management Review 22(4) pp. 853-886.

Tang, Z and Tang, J (2012) Stakeholder-firm power difference, stakeholders’ CSR orientation, and SMES’ environmental performance in China, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol 27 (4), pp. 436-455.