In the remediation of business-related human rights abuses, meaningful stakeholder engagement which culminates in effective access to remedy begins with forms of communication that enable the voice and agency of marginalized stakeholders, and value their lived experiences. Here, we consider how the development of a _dialogical_ theorization of stakeholder engagement is aligned with the practical and ethical goals of an effective access to human rights remedy. Drawing on dialogical theory, we discern four ethical criteria —_power cognizance, polyphonic pluralism, generative agonism (...) and discursive unfinalizability_— that reveal three general approaches to stakeholder engagement —_essentially monologic, seemingly dialogic and authentically dialogic_— based on the extent to which they exhibit the criteria above. We propose and discuss an 'authentically dialogic' approach for organizations adopting morally expansive, victim-centric approaches to engagement in the design and implementation of company-led remedial mechanisms. (shrink)

Our understanding of how public actors directly influence stakeholder engagement through mechanisms such as regulation and licensing has been steadily improving. However, the indirect influence of public governance measures on stakeholder engagement remains less explored. This article seeks to bridge this gap by examining how public sector actors use participatory governance to influence private stakeholder engagement beyond public governance processes. We introduce the concept of silent steering to describe how indirect effects on stakeholder engagement occur. Through an in-depth case study (...) of Finnish mining governance from 1995 to 2020, we uncover how silent steering of private engagement occurs through role-giving, example-giving, and expectation-giving. Through these processes, public actors can exert significant influence over industry- and firm-level private stakeholder engagement processes even when they are not present. (shrink)