STAKEHOLDER PRIORITIZATION IN COMMUNICATION CONSIDERING FINANCIAL RISK FOR A BUSINESS

Abstract

Contemporary approach to risk management implies a stakeholder analysis in accordance with stakeholders’ influence on risk initiation along with their influence on risk outcomes. Communication with stakeholders/publics plays an important role in overall risk management. In the frame of wider implementation of stakeholder theory, it becomes a common practice to create different communication strategies that aim to the key stakeholders. From the point of stakeholder approach, risk analysis implies an assessment of stakeholders’ influence on financial stability of the business, or more generally, on reputation loss. In the given context, stakeholder analysis is a precondition for risk management as well as for creating risk communication strategies. A stakeholder prioritization approach to the risk communication is based on the managerial assessments of stakeholders’ importance in the risk situations. The main goal of this research was to provide an insight in the managerial communication practice with stakeholders in situations of financial risk. The risk communication management was explored using several criteria for stakeholders’ prioritization in risk situations: stakeholders’ actions or power linked to the risk situation, stakeholders’ legitimacy to demand communication/information about risk situations, urgency of response on stakeholders’ demand for communication/information about risk situations. Research was conducted using an online questionnaire method on the sample of managers from companies headquartered in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the results it can be concluded that company size is the variable with the greatest influence on managerial stakeholders’ prioritization and communication practice with different stakeholders in the situation of financial risk.