Stakeholder cross-impact analysis: a segmentation method

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a method that the authors call stakeholder cross-impact analysis (SCIA), which is aimed at analyzing how a given set of stakeholders influence one another and also how such stakeholders relate to a given set of issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first identify, in the current literature, a lack of analytical tools for assessing mutual influences among stakeholders. The authors then identify cross-impact analysis, a method that was initially developed in the field of futures research, as a suitable method to be applied in the present research. Its application, which the authors call SCIA, is described in detail through a fictitious case. Findings – SCIA permits to assess the direction and the strength of relationships between stakeholders. Furthermore, it allows for the classification of stakeholders based on their level of dependence and influence on others. Also, it is possible to integrate SCIA with social network analysis in order to understand the degree to which stakeholders agree on how issues influence one another, as well as to identify which issues most stakeholders consider to be central and which stakeholders have the most shared opinion on how issues are related. Practical implications – This method can be used, along with traditional segmentation techniques, by corporate communication and public relations practitioners in order to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the complexity of organizations’ environments. Originality/value – SCIA represents a much-needed and novel way of understanding the complexity of organizations’ environments.

Management tools in corporate communication: a survey about tool use and reflections about the gap between theory and practice

“…Notable exceptions are a recent book on communication strategy by Van Ruler and Körver (2019) that introduces a practical framework for strategy development, and a small number of journal articles describing novel tools (e.g. Greyser and Ude, 2019; Mariconda and Lurati, 2015; Van Ruler, 2015; Zerfass and Viertmann, 2017). To our knowledge, there is currently no scientific discourse about tools in our field, no empirical data about the adoption of tools in communication practice and no definitive summary of tools available.…”

“…For example, popular communication management tools include SWOT analysis, SMART goals, stakeholder maps or media response analysis (e.g. Mariconda and Lurati, 2015; Lurati and Zamparini, 2018). But apart from these widely known approaches, to our knowledge, the overall adoption of standardized tools across the communication profession is quite low (Zerfaß and Volk, 2019).…”

Empirical investigation regarding ethical decision making: a stakeholder cross-impact analysis (SCIA)

“…Cross-impact analysis (CIA) was initially developed by Gordon and Helmer (1968). Mariconda and Lurati, (2015) explored the CIA and extended the same to stakeholders. They suggested the SCIA framework that differentiated stakeholders into four types.…”

Governing Trade-Offs and Building Coherence in Policy-Making for the 2030 Agenda

“…In the original form of cross-impact analysis the assessment was focused on the probability of each event occurring under the influence of all the other events, or checking the coherence of such probability assessments. Today, many variants of cross-impact analysis exist and it belongs to a whole family of methods for analysing and modeling systems that sit between empirical data-driven computational models and argumentative systems analysis (Mariconda & Lurati, 2015;Panula-Ontto et al, 2018). The exact question in focus has been modified to meet different needs and not all cross-impact analyses use a probabilistic approach (Weimer-Jehle, 2006).…”