How perceived stakeholder orientations affect consumers’ perceived firm innovativeness across nations

Abstract

Firms’ perceived innovativeness endows multinational corporations with a unique competitive edge among consumers. Although stakeholder orientation drives firms’ innovation, the mechanisms by which consumers’ perceptions of firms’ orientation toward key stakeholder groups, like customers, employees, and society, affect perceptions of firm innovativeness remain underexplored, especially in different countries. Certain stakeholder orientations may be advantageous in one country but not in another. To address this gap, this study leverages information integration theory to analyze how strong perceptions of customer, employee, and society orientations influence firm innovativeness perceptions differently across 22 countries and how these influences are moderated by country development in an important contingency perspective. Through multilevel structural equation modeling, the authors reveal novel and surprising effects of stakeholder orientations and astonishing variations in more versus less developed countries. They offer actionable insights for decision-makers aiming to grasp the intricate ways in which communicating stakeholder orientations shape consumer perceptions of firm innovativeness internationally.