TY - JOUR
T1 - The Vulnerability and Strength Duality in Ethnic Business
T2 - A Model of Stakeholder Salience and Social Capital
AU - Marin, Alejandra
AU - Mitchell, Ronald K.
AU - Lee, Jae Hwan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
PY - 2015/8/6
Y1 - 2015/8/6
N2 - Managers in ethnic businesses are confronted with ethical dilemmas when taking action based on ethnic ties; and often as a result, they increase the already vulnerable positions of these businesses and their stakeholders. Many of these dilemmas concern the capital that is generated (or the lack of it) through variations in the use of ethnic stakeholder social ties. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a stakeholder-based model of social capital formation, mediated by various forms of ethnic ties, to explore the duality of ethnicity: it can aid and hinder an ethnic business. Drawing upon the social capital/economic development, stakeholder salience, ethnic businesses literatures, and (to some extent) on social identity theory, we develop a cyclical model of relationships among ethnic business stakeholder attributes (ethnic kinship-based power, ethnic-moral legitimacy, and ethnic-critical urgency) and social capital, as mediated by three-way (triadic) Simmelian bonding and bridging ties, which then, in turn, affects the ethnic stakeholder attributes. We argue that the development of bridging yet strong ties through this cyclical process is relevant for the improvement of the positions of ethnic businesses in terms of both economic success and social responsibility. Specifically, we suggest that, given the duality of ethnicity in business, managers can prioritize stakeholder relationships based upon how these stakeholder ties affect social capital.
AB - Managers in ethnic businesses are confronted with ethical dilemmas when taking action based on ethnic ties; and often as a result, they increase the already vulnerable positions of these businesses and their stakeholders. Many of these dilemmas concern the capital that is generated (or the lack of it) through variations in the use of ethnic stakeholder social ties. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a stakeholder-based model of social capital formation, mediated by various forms of ethnic ties, to explore the duality of ethnicity: it can aid and hinder an ethnic business. Drawing upon the social capital/economic development, stakeholder salience, ethnic businesses literatures, and (to some extent) on social identity theory, we develop a cyclical model of relationships among ethnic business stakeholder attributes (ethnic kinship-based power, ethnic-moral legitimacy, and ethnic-critical urgency) and social capital, as mediated by three-way (triadic) Simmelian bonding and bridging ties, which then, in turn, affects the ethnic stakeholder attributes. We argue that the development of bridging yet strong ties through this cyclical process is relevant for the improvement of the positions of ethnic businesses in terms of both economic success and social responsibility. Specifically, we suggest that, given the duality of ethnicity in business, managers can prioritize stakeholder relationships based upon how these stakeholder ties affect social capital.
KW - Ethnic business
KW - Ethnic-based social dilemmas
KW - Simmelian ties
KW - Social capital
KW - Stakeholder salience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938739207&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10551-014-2207-7
DO - 10.1007/s10551-014-2207-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84938739207
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 130
SP - 271
EP - 289
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - 2
ER -