Stakeholder Relationships as Games Played by Stakeholders

The debate on what role business is supposed to play in society while carrying out its day to day activities has been on the front burner of business discussions, with various scholars taking sides with either the shareholder value maximisation or stakeholder consideration views. This has led to an increased interest in the area in recent times and has opened up new areas of research, one of such being the exploration of stakeholder relationships. This paper is part of study on the Nature of Stakeholder Relationships in the Nigerian Oil Industry. There have been the application of diverse theories to the study of stakeholder issues, but there seems to be little evidence involving the use of Game Theory to study the area. As a result, this paper uses the theory to explore the complexities involved in these relationships.

The methodology used in this paper is mostly qualitative in nature, with the data gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed with the Thematic Discourse Analysis method. The findings indicate that some attributes expected in a game situation are present in the relationships between stakeholders in the industry. These relationships are undertaken with benefits or outcomes in mind, so each stakeholder is careful and strategic in taking actions that will protect its interests in the industry. In the process of protecting such interests, different kinds of relationships are created as a result of the different aspects of these games engaged in by the different stakeholders. A conclusion is reached that the management of stakeholder relationships is a very delicate game that involves a variety of choices, concessions, compromises, decisions and actions with varying levels of outcomes and impacts on the system. As a result, all stakeholders or game players must be cautious in their handling of these relationships as every move made in playing these games has an impact on the benefits or outcomes accruable to various stakeholders.