Letters to stakeholders: An emerging phenomenon of multi‐stakeholder engagement

We explore a new phenomenon of multi-stakeholder orientation and engagementin corporate communication: letters to stakeholders. By applying content, seman-tic, and quantitative analyses to standardized corporate communication among the100 largest multinational companies worldwide, our study reveals that approximatelyone-third of the examined companies have begun to utilize what could be consid-ered letters to stakeholders. We demonstrate that letters to stakeholders adopt amulti-stakeholder orientation, which describes the ability to speak a language that iswidely comprehensible by a diverse audience. Letters to stakeholders are positivelyrelated to firm willingness to display multi-stakeholder engagement activities by em-bracing stakeholder recognition, support, and dialog. Our findings position letters tostakeholders as a promising tool for and approach to corporate communication thatimproves the legitimacy and moral consideration of stakeholders