Abstract:

Stakeholder engagement is described, in higher education institutions, as work that provides some benefit to both the Higher Education Institute (HEI) and its stakeholders. This paper focuses on engagement with HEIs’ external stakeholders, including government and funding agencies, businesses, community, prospective students, alumni, professional bodies, and other HEIs. It considers the influence of proximity on the importance of these stakeholder groups. It uses a case study approach to identify HE stakeholders and the levels of salience attributed to those stakeholders.

Stakeholders are defined as all those persons or entities with interest in the activity of an organisation; those that pay for it and/or those that benefit from it, both exerting some form of pressure on the organisation. They comprise any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organisation. The salience of these stakeholders is positively related to the cumulative number of stakeholder attributes, usually comprising power to influence the organisation, legitimacy of the stakeholders’ claim on the organisation, and the degree of urgency of the stakeholders’ claim. This paper also considers the influence of proximity, defined as spatial nearness, on the salience of HEI stakeholders.

The findings are drawn from a qualitative case study, Semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis were used to gather data so participants could provide opinions and perspectives on engagement interactions. Data was analysed using NVivo and stakeholder theory was used as the basis to establish patterns and themes which were subsequently examined and interpreted in an iterative process, whereby the data was revisited as new questions and connections emerged.

This research concurs with the literature in reporting proximity as a strong influence on stakeholder salience. The findings indicate that business and industry, prospective students and professional bodies are identified by the interviewees as the most salient stakeholders. The literature had determined that prospective students and professional bodies were not the most salient stakeholders. However, these stakeholder groups are located in close proximity to the case HEI and consequently interviewees consider that their needs must be addressed, making them more salient than previously considered by the literature. Conversely, lack of proximity has decreased the level of perceived salience that other case HEI’s stakeholders have, such as government and its funding agencies. Though previous research has identified government as the most salient stakeholders, this research finds that the lack of proximity of this stakeholder decreases their salience in the eyes of the interviewees.

The contribution of the paper is twofold. Firstly, the paper increases our awareness and understanding of stakeholder engagement between higher education institutions (HEIs) and their stakeholders. Secondly, it tests assertions by researchers about the influence of proximity on the salience of stakeholders. The findings sound a warning to HEI management about the importance of stakeholders’ proximity in determining who is important.

Keywords:

Stakeholder, engagement, proximity, salience.