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Silent Steering: How Public Actors Indirectly Influence Private Stakeholder Engagement

Järvelä, J., Sorsa, V-P. & Spicer, A. (2024). Silent Steering: How Public Actors Indirectly Influence Private Stakeholder Engagement. Business and Society,

Abstract

Our understanding of how public actors directly influence stakeholder engagement through mechanisms such as regulation and licensing has been steadily improving. However, the indirect influence of public governance measures on stakeholder engagement remains less explored. This article seeks to bridge this gap by examining how public sector actors use participatory governance to influence private stakeholder engagement beyond public governance processes. We introduce the concept of silent steering to describe how indirect effects on stakeholder engagement occur. Through an in-depth case study of Finnish mining governance from 1995 to 2020, we uncover how silent steering of private engagement occurs through role-giving, example-giving, and expectations-giving. Through these processes, public actors can exert significant influence over industry- and firm-level private stakeholder engagement processes even when they are not present.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright © 2024.
Publisher Keywords: stakeholder engagement, public participation, silent steering, mining, public–private interaction
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
J Political Science > JC Political theory
Departments: Bayes Business School
SWORD Depositor:
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