Purpose

The study explores the use of professional investor relations (IR) practices in South African (SA) listed companies to understand which theories may be responsible for IR's adoption and growth in South Africa, an emerging economy. Therefore, this study evaluates shareholder value maximisation, stakeholder and legitimization theory and institutional isomorphism theory as possible theories to explain professional IR behaviour in SA listed companies.

Design/methodology/approach

The study design is qualitative and exploratory, based on a questionnaire developed and sent to all companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE).

Findings

The results indicate evidence of isomorphic spread to SA environments from practices observed in the UK and the USA, which we find are mostly performed to promote shareholder interests. The data suggest some evidence that the communication needs of black economic empowerment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investors are given priority, suggesting the utility of professional IR to obtain legitimisation from society. Contrary to expectation is that social media communication channels are not extensively used.

Practical implications

The descriptive nature of this study may be valuable to IR practitioners to improve SA IR practises, while neglected legitimisation opportunities with regard to the needs of ESG and black economic empowerment shareholders may be fruitfully addressed by practitioners.

Originality/value

This study innovates in its use of legitimisation theory and isomorphism theory to develop the study's expectations. Social problems provide contextual elements unique to SA which provides a good opportunity to test the expectation of legitimisation theory's influence on professional IR practices.

中文翻译：

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战略利益相关者管理：南非的投资者关系

目的

该研究探讨了在南非 (SA) 上市公司中使用专业投资者关系 (IR) 实践，以了解哪些理论可能导致 IR 在新兴经济体南非的采用和增长。因此，本研究将股东价值最大化、利益相关者和合法化理论以及制度同构理论作为解释SA上市公司职业IR行为的可能理论。

设计/方法/方法

该研究设计是定性和探索性的，基于开发并发送给所有在约翰内斯堡证券交易所 (JSE) 上市的公司的调查问卷。

发现

结果表明，在英国和美国观察到的实践表明，同构传播到 SA 环境的证据主要是为了促进股东利益。数据表明，有一些证据表明黑人经济授权和环境，社会与治理（ESG）投资者的沟通需求被优先考虑，这表明专业投资者关系在获得社会合法性方面的效用。与预期相反的是，社交媒体沟通渠道并未得到广泛使用。

实际影响

本研究的描述性可能对投资者关系从业者改善南非投资者关系实践有价值，而从业者可能会富有成效地解决在 ESG 和黑人经济赋权股东需求方面被忽视的合法化机会。

原创性/价值

本研究在使用合法化理论和同构理论方面进行了创新，以发展研究预期。社会问题提供了 SA 独有的背景元素，这提供了一个很好的机会来测试合法化理论对专业 IR 实践的影响的期望。