Roberto Fernández-Gago; Laura Cabeza-García; José Luis de Godos-Díez; Beatriz Jiménez-Parra

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"Put Yourself in Their Shoes": The Stakeholder Theory Taught Through Role-Play

Roberto Fernández-Gago, Laura Cabeza-García, José Luis de Godos-Díez, and Beatriz Jiménez-Parra

Departamento de Dirección y Economía de la Empresa, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana, León, Spain

Volume 21: 2024 pp. 73-98: ABSTRACT

The stakeholder theory has become influential in the field of business management, especially concerning environmental and social issues. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement in the way this theory is taught in higher education. In this work, an experiential teaching method is proposed where the firm is no longer the center of analysis, and business situations are approached from the perspective of participating stakeholders. An original role-playing activity with detailed instructions to be adapted and used by interested educators was put into practice with the participation of Spanish undergraduate students. Results showed that this teaching method helped promote stakeholder thinking in management courses and led students to evaluate the power of different stakeholders.
Keywords: stakeholder theory, stakeholder power, experiential exercise, role-play