Managing Multi-Stakeholder Relationships in Nonprofit Organizations Through Multiple Channels: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda for Enhancing Stakeholder Relationship Marketing

Abstract

[Abstract] Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) need to maintain effective relationships with a growing multiplicity of stakeholders with potentially divergent interests. In parallel, today’s digital transformation is changing the ways in which these interactions take place through multiple channels, fomenting interconnectivity and interdependence. However, the advantages, purposes and mix of digital channels used by NPOs when nurturing their relationships with key stakeholders remain under-researched. The objective of this article is to pave the way for future research on nonprofit-stakeholder relationship marketing, incorporating insights on how nonprofits connect and interact with their multiple target audiences through various channels. To this end, we carry out a systematic review of nonprofit literature on stakeholder management, examining 169 articles from 2007 to 2019. This enables us to analyze the extant knowledge base and suggest the addition of four main topics to the future research agenda on nonprofitstakeholder relationship marketing: 1) a broad stakeholder view; 2) enhanced two-way interactions with stakeholders; 3) the opportunities and challenges of using online resources in combination with offline channels/tools to interact with stakeholders; and 4) new theoretical developments and methodological approaches