A Novel and Integrated Approach to Stakeholder Salience: Insights from the Tourism Sector in the Gilgit-Baltistan Province of Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Stakeholder Salience (SS) framework is a tried and tested tool for stakeholder analysis in diverse policy settings. However, the original SS framework provides insights into whether a stakeholder possesses power, legitimacy, or urgency without indicating the level and nature of these attributes. To enrich our understanding of stakeholder salience framework, we introduce a nuanced approach by treating the three attributes as continuous variables. In doing so, we have imported and integrated various important frameworks and conceptualizations used earlier in policy analysis. Based on such an enhancement, we propose a typology of 48 stakeholders to better understand their significance, diversity, and constituents in the tourism sector of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Each attribute of stakeholders' salience is dealt as a separate construct measurable along a continuum. The enhanced framework enhances our comprehension of stakeholder dynamics, enabling more nuanced insights for tailored policy interventions in the tourism sector of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

KEYWORDS:

• Stakeholder salience
• stakeholder identification
• stakeholder prioritization
• power
• legitimacy
• urgency

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge conducting this research with financial support of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Center of Excellence, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad. The paper also benefited from constructive comments of Dr. Sajid Amin, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed and Dr. Anwar Hussain.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process

During the preparation of this work the authors used ChatGPT in order to improve language of the manuscript. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.