Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement: The Concept, Practice and Governance

This chapter sets the overall context for the book in terms of theory, normative frameworks and expectations, and practice challenges for meaningful stakeholder engagement (MSE). It explains the dual typology of stakeholders (affected and non-affected) that is relevant to understanding the concept of MSE, and clarifies the predominant focus on affected stakeholders for the purposes of MSE. It explains how a surge of legislative demands on companies to exercise risk-based due diligence is driving a shift from a ‘nice-to-have’ response to MSE as part of a wider social expectation, to a ‘need-to-have’ organizational practice for both private and public organizations. In this context it also provides an overview of the origin of the current normative focus on MSE and its grounding in leading global governance frameworks. Through a literature review, the chapter considers the individual and joint meaning of the three terms in MSE – meaningful, stakeholder, and engagement –, as well as the connection between the stakeholder and rights-holder terms, and describes the current state of the art in terms of the academic and grey literature and key normative frameworks or guidance instruments. Finally, the chapter explains the handbook’s structure and briefly introduces each chapter and practice note.