How stakeholder salience influences the sustainability strategy of companies in the aviation sector

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to understand how stakeholders impact organisations in terms of sustainability and how they exert their influence. Based on stakeholder theory and sustainability literature I analysed how stakeholders influence sustainability in the aviationsector. My qualitative, comparative case study, enabled me to identify three different clusters, based on the following characteristics: i) production companies, ii) premium airlines and iii) low-cost airlines. For each of these clusters’ stakeholder pressures are shaped by the following variables: company’s business model; company’s value proposition and cultural variables in which the company is operating. The nature of stakeholder pressures, in turn, drives companies to prioritize either economic or environmental variables in their sustainability strategy. In this way, my thesis provides an answer how to identify salience in stakeholders and how these stakeholders influence organisational behaviour in the sustainability domain, thus reconnecting these cognate research streams.

Date of Award	4 Feb 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Tommaso Ramus (Supervisor)