When do societal stakeholders matter for agency‐CEOs? The role of stakeholder arrangements and social media attention
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | Lars Brummel |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12899 |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
When do societal stakeholders matter
for agency-CEOs? The role of stakeholder
arrangements and social media attention
Lars Brummel
1,2
1
Institute of Public Administration, Faculty of
Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden
University, Leiden, The Netherlands
2
Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht
University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Correspondence
Lars Brummel, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP,
The Hague, The Netherlands.
Email: l.brummel@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Funding information
Nederlandse Organisatie voor
Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Grant/Award
Number: 452-14-008
Abstract
Public agencies have to deal with accountability demands
from various societal stakeholders. Stakeholders may
address their accountability demands via formal stakeholder
arrangements but can also use social media for account-
holding purposes. This contribution analyzes to what extent
these different venues of social accountability affect the
perceived relevance of societal stakeholders to agency-
CEOs—their so-called “stakeholder orientation.”By combin-
ing quantitative and qualitative data, this study shows that
agency-CEOs' stakeholder orientation is strongly associated
with actual social media attention. In contrast, the relation-
ship between formal stakeholder arrangements and stake-
holder orientation is weak. Qualitative insights from focus
group discussions suggest that the associations between
social media attention and stakeholder orientation can be
explained by mediatization processes within agencies and
the reputational risks of social media storms. Overall, the
findings support that social media attention is the most
important catalyst for stakeholder orientation, rather than
stakeholder arrangements.
Samenvatting
Verzelfstandige overheidsorganisaties worden vaak gecon-
fronteerd met verantwoordingseisen van verschillende maats-
chappelijke belanghebbenden. Maatschappelijke verantwoording
Received: 25 January 2022Revised: 7 November 2022Accepted: 12 November 2022
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12899
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2022 The Authors. Public Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Public Admin. 2023;101:1549–1568. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm 1549
kan plaatsvinden via formele stakeholderarrangementen, zoals
stakeholderconsultaties en cliënten- en gebruikersraden, maar
vindt ook plaats via sociale media. Dit artikel brengt in beeld in
welke mate verschillende vormen van maatschappelijke ver-
antwoording samenhangen met een grotere oriëntatie van
bestuurders van verzelfstandigde overheidsorganisaties op hun
maatschappelijke omgeving. Op basis van surveyonderzoek
(N=103) laat dit artikel zien dat stakeholderoriëntatie sterk
samenhangt met de mate van sociale media-aandacht voor
organisaties. De relatie tussen formele stakeholderarra-
ngementen en stakeholderoriëntatie is zwak. Op basis van
inzichten uit kwalitatieve focusgroepen met N=14 deelnemers
blijkt dat de relatie tussen sociale media-aandacht en
stakeholderoriëntatie verklaard kan worden door de ervaren
mediatisering binnen organisaties, maar in het bijzonder door de
reputatierisico's van aandacht op sociale media voor
verzelfstandigde overheidsorganisaties.
1|INTRODUCTION
Public agencies are often confronted with various expectations and evaluations of a wide array of societal stake-
holders. The academic literature assumes that stakeholders, that is, citizens, clients, and/or users, have taken a
greater role in holding public sector organizations accountable (Bovens, 2007; Mizrahi & Minchuk, 2019; Verschuere
et al., 2006). On the one hand, public agencies are bound to “more formalised accountability relationships”
(Lindén, 2015, p. 1012) with their societal stakeholders by the establishment of client councils, stakeholder panels
and other stakeholder arrangements within the public sector (see, e.g., Mattei et al., 2018; Schillemans, 2008). On
the other hand, public agencies are increasingly faced with bottom-up public pressures and critical debate in the pub-
lic sphere, particularly due to a rapidly changing (social) media environment (Alon-Barkat & Gilad, 2016;
Moore, 2014; Willems & Van Dooren, 2012). Due to the rise of social media platforms, societal stakeholders could
use the Internet to hold public sector organizations directly accountable (Brummel, 2021; Ojala et al., 2019).
According to Vrangbæk and Byrkjeflot (2016, p. 114), “ad hoc e-based virtual interest groups and campaigns (…) have
supplemented traditional civic society interest organisations and mass media in the accountability functions of
demanding information and passing judgments”.
An important question remains to what extent formal stakeholder arrangements and social media attention are
associated with a stronger organizational orientation toward societal stakeholders. Forms of so-called social account-
ability are heralded as they can stimulate organizational responsiveness (Damgaard & Lewis, 2014; Mattei
et al., 2018), but they are also criticized because of their unclear and limited impact on the public sector
(Lindén, 2015; Michels & Meijer, 2008). As social accountability is relatively weak in terms of formal consequences
and sanctions (see e.g., Bovens, 2007), we need to better understand whether and how social accountability can be
of potential relevance to public sector organizations.
Taken together, our research aim is to investigate to what extent elements of the societal accountability envi-
ronment of agencies—namely formal stakeholder arrangements and social media attention –are associated with a
greater stakeholder orientation of individual heads and leaders of public agencies (hereafter: agency-CEOs). Our
1550 BRUMMEL
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