Exploring the role of stakeholders towards sustainable development in the public sector

Abstract

Increasingly, governments around the world are facing growing pressure to implement policies and strategies that facilitate the realization of the sustainable development agenda. The public sector plays a pivotal role in spearheading the actions necessary to achieve the sustainable development agenda. However, given the grand and wicked nature of the challenges within the sustainable development scope, it is unlikely that the required actions can be solely implemented by the sector. The complexities of the sustainable development concept call for a multi-actor approach to build consensus on the actions, solutions and trade-offs required from each country. The multi-stakeholder approach, thus urges the sector and its stakeholders to strengthen its stakeholder capabilities and transcend beyond the traditional dyadic approaches of service delivery to value creation. Within the emerging countries context, value creation and sustainable development remain marred with complexities. The study sought to develop new insights and understanding of how stakeholder value creation contributes to achieving sustainable development in the context of emerging countries. A better appreciation of the complexities of the stakeholder value creation pathway will equip key stakeholders with the insights to navigate the sustainable development journey for our future selves. The study examined the main constructs of sustainable development such as stakeholder value creation, collaboration and public value creation. The study also examined the barriers and enablers to galvanising stakeholder and how they can contribute towards sustainable development. This study was qualitative and exploratory in nature in order to respond to the research question. Data was gathered from 13 semi-structed interviews with professionals engaged in sustainable development, strategy and stakeholder management within the South African public sector. The research output presents a conceptual framework that illustrates the role of stakeholder value creation in promoting sustainable development within the public sector. The study aimed to confirm the existing extant literature and make a potential contribution to the sustainable development literature.