Organisational love : external stakeholder perspective on organisation showing affection in B2B relationship

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate love in organisation-stakeholder relationships (OSR). While brand love research typically examines stakeholders’ love for brands and organisations, this study examines organisations’ love for stakeholders - an outside-in perspective which is under-explored in public relations and marketing research. Building on Badham’s (2020) organisation-stakeholder love framework (OSL), the aim is to explore whether stakeholders perceive an organisation’s love for them, particularly the elements of passion, intimacy, and commitment.

This study consists of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The case organisation is Valo Solutions, a Finnish software company that sells B2B software solutions through a global partner network. First, responses to an online questionnaire of 63 stakeholders were analysed to discover whether love was perceived in stakeholder-organisation relationships. Second, but more important-ly, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted to more deeply investigate how OSL was applied by the case organisation. Using mainly thematic analysis, interviews were analysed to explore how love was applied by the organisation.

The study offers rare empirical insight into affection in organisation-stakeholder relationships, espe-cially an organisation’s affection (i.e. love) for stakeholders. This thesis acknowledges its limita-tions and offers suggestions for future research pathways that may be explored to shed further light on this novel concept.