MNCs’ Social Innovation in Emerging Markets: A Stakeholder Perspective

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effects of primary and secondary stakeholders on social innovation practices in local markets by subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) and to confirm the link between social innovation and the subsidiaries’ capacity to adapt to the local market. By adopting a stakeholder perspective as an overarching theoretical lens and collecting data from China—the world’s largest emerging market—this study reveals the crucial catalytic role that most primary and secondary stakeholders play in enhancing social innovation by MNC subsidiaries in host countries. In addition, we provide strong evidence of a causal relationship between social innovation and adaptive capability in host economies. Our results contribute to current scholarship by identifying theoretical cornerstones and practical managerial implications of social innovation in emerging markets.