Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the requirements for stakeholder integration in sustainability project partnerships in times of sustainability crisis. Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic as a sustainability crisis that has sensitized consumers and other stakeholders to corporate responsibility for social and sustainability issues, a conceptual framework for stakeholder integration is developed from which implications for designing the potential, process and result quality are derived.

Design/methodology/approach

In this conceptual paper, design options for stakeholder integration are derived from open innovation and service management research. Specific crisis-related determinants of stakeholder integration are derived from current corporate social responsibility (CSR) and crisis research taking into account the opportunities and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design options and crisis-related determinants are then combined to a conceptual framework for stakeholder integration in sustainability project partnerships in times of crisis. Based on this framework, research propositions are derived that provide insights into the design of the potential, process and result quality of stakeholder integration.

Findings

This paper shows that the COVID-19 pandemic can be viewed as a sustainability crisis, which places special entrepreneurial demands on stakeholder integration in sustainability project partnerships. The pandemic offers potential for integrating a large number of stakeholders and has emphasized the need for integrating a broad range of stakeholders. Higher skepticism of stakeholders toward companies' CSR engagement in the pandemic has raised stakeholder demands for early integration. Higher skepticism and CSR involvement have rendered active forms of integration even more relevant, which, however, should still be adapted to the respective stakeholder prerequisites. The pandemic has increased the need for constant and comprehensive exchange of data on project results between stakeholders and the project leading organization. Measurement of target achievement can be promoted by establishing stakeholder commitment with regard to the target measures on the collective and relationship levels of the partnership. Finally, the pandemic has reinforced the need for more dialogical forms of communicating sustainability project results.

Originality/value

Solving problems and exploiting opportunities in times of crisis require a high degree of entrepreneurship and creative leadership in order to gain new ideas and overcome resource deficits. Sustainability project partnerships in which various stakeholders contribute resources and knowledge to collaborate on idea development and finding solutions to sustainability issues are suitable for this. However, previous approaches to stakeholder integration in open innovation and service management research largely neglect the crisis context and only a few are related to sustainability. In CSR and crisis research, stakeholder-related approaches to coping with crises tend to be underrepresented, and the comprehensive concept of stakeholder integration has so far hardly been considered as an approach to crisis management. By taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic as a sustainability crisis, this paper provides new impulses for the integration of stakeholders in sustainability project partnerships in times of crisis. Recommendations for the design of the potential, process and result quality are derived, which provide insights for project leaders and stakeholders alike. In addition, implications for public policymakers are derived, who are assigned an increasingly active role in the pandemic and who can contribute to the success of sustainability project partnerships by setting suitable framework conditions. The developed concept can be expanded to include further company-related determinants and offers a starting point for empirical analysis in the still underexplored research fields of sustainability-oriented relationship marketing and sustainability crises.

中文翻译：

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危机时期的可持续性项目伙伴关系：概念框架和对利益相关者整合的影响

目的

本文旨在分析在可持续性危机时期利益相关者融入可持续性项目伙伴关系的要求。将 COVID-19 大流行视为一种可持续性危机，使消费者和其他利益相关者对社会和可持续性问题的企业责任变得敏感，因此制定了利益相关者整合的概念框架，从中得出对设计潜力、过程和结果质量的影响。

设计/方法/方法

在这篇概念性论文中，利益相关者整合的设计选项源自开放式创新和服务管理研究。利益相关者整合的特定危机相关决定因素来自当前的企业社会责任 (CSR) 和危机研究，并考虑了 COVID-19 大流行的机遇和挑战。然后将设计选项和与危机相关的决定因素结合到一个概念框架中，以便在危机时期将利益相关者整合到可持续项目伙伴关系中。基于此框架，推导出研究命题，为利益相关者整合的潜力、过程和结果质量的设计提供见解。

发现

本文表明，COVID-19 大流行可以被视为可持续发展危机，这对可持续发展项目伙伴关系中的利益相关者整合提出了特殊的创业要求。大流行为整合大量利益相关者提供了潜力，并强调了整合广泛利益相关者的必要性。利益相关者对公司在大流行中的企业社会责任参与的更高怀疑引发了利益相关者对早期整合的要求。更高的怀疑态度和企业社会责任的参与使得积极的整合形式更加相关，但是，这仍然应该适应各自的利益相关者的先决条件。大流行增加了利益相关者和项目领导组织之间持续和全面交换项目结果数据的需求。可以通过在伙伴关系的集体和关系层面上就目标措施建立利益相关者承诺来促进目标实现的衡量。最后，大流行加强了对交流可持续性项目结果的更多对话形式的需求。

原创性/价值

在危机时期解决问题和利用机会需要高度的创业精神和创造性的领导才能获得新想法并克服资源短缺。各种利益相关者贡献资源和知识以合作进行创意开发和寻找可持续性问题解决方案的可持续性项目伙伴关系适用于此。然而，以前在开放式创新和服务管理研究中整合利益相关者的方法在很大程度上忽视了危机背景，只有少数与可持续性有关。在企业社会责任和危机研究中，与利益相关者相关的应对危机的方法往往代表性不足，迄今为止，利益相关者整合的综合概念几乎没有被视为危机管理的一种方法。通过将 COVID-19 大流行视为可持续性危机，本文为利益相关者在危机时期融入可持续性项目伙伴关系提供了新的动力。推导出有关设计潜力、过程和结果质量的建议，为项目领导者和利益相关者提供见解。此外，还得出了对公共决策者的影响，他们在大流行中扮演着越来越积极的角色，并且可以通过设置合适的框架条件为可持续项目伙伴关系的成功做出贡献。已开发的概念可以扩展到包括更多与公司相关的决定因素，并为尚待探索的可持续性关系营销和可持续性危机研究领域的实证分析提供一个起点。