A Strategic Stakeholder-Value Alignment Framework for Secretarial Management

Thesis Abstract

This study addresses the misalignment between stakeholder expectations and perceived value delivered by secretarial management within contemporary organizations, where administrative functions are increasingly strategic yet often undervalued in executive decision-making. The aim is to develop a Strategic Stakeholder-Value Alignment Framework (SSVAF) that integrates stakeholder theory, resource-based view (RBV), and dynamic capabilities to optimize the role of secretarial management as a value-creating function. Specific objectives include (1) identifying key stakeholders and their value expectations from secretarial management; (2) examining determinants of perceived value contributed by secretarial activities; (3) assessing how organizational strategy and governance structures shape secretarial alignment; (4) developing and validating a framework that operationalizes value alignment across processes, metrics, and governance; and (5) evaluating the framework’s potential to improve strategic outcomes such as decision-making speed, information quality, and stakeholder satisfaction. A sequential, mixed-methods design will be employed. The qualitative phase will involve 32 in-depth interviews with senior secretaries, CEOs, chief of staff, and board secretaries across five industries (financial services, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, and public sector) to elicit stakeholders’ value expectations and hidden assumptions. The quantitative phase will survey 250 secretarial professionals and their line managers using a structured instrument developed from qualitative findings, capturing variables including stakeholder expectations, strategic involvement, information quality, process efficiency, and perceived value contribution. Data collection will utilize semi-structured interview guides, validated scales for organizational trust and information quality, and organizational performance indicators sourced from annual reports. Validity and reliability will be ensured through pilot testing (n=20) and confirmatory factor analysis. Analytical techniques will include thematic analysis for qualitative data, structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed relationships among stakeholder expectations, secretarial capabilities, and value outcomes, and multi-group analysis to examine cross-industry variations. The theoretical underpinning integrates Stakeholder Theory (for identifying and prioritizing stakeholders and their value demands), the Resource-Based View (to frame secretarial capabilities as strategic resources), and Dynamic Capabilities (to explain adaptability of secretarial functions in changing environments). Expected findings include (a) a prioritized roster of stakeholder groups with defined value domains for secretarial management; (b) empirical evidence that secretarial capabilities—information processing, coordination, and governance participation—mediate the relationship between stakeholder expectations and organizational value outcomes; (c) demonstration that alignment quality moderates the impact of secretarial involvement on decision-making speed and quality; (d) a parsimonious, operationalizable model of value alignment, including measurable indicators, that can be embedded into governance processes; and (e) cross-industry variations highlighting industry-specific value drivers and governance mechanisms. The study contributes to knowledge by providing a rigorously developed framework that reframes secretarial management as a strategic, value-adding function anchored in stakeholder alignment and dynamic organizational capability. It advances theory by synthesizing Stakeholder Theory, RBV, and Dynamic Capabilities within a concrete governance and operations context, and it offers a robust, instrumented model for empirical testing across organizations. Practically, the SSVAF enables organizational leaders to design governance structures, performance metrics, and information flows that align secretarial activities with diverse stakeholder expectations, enhancing strategic decision support and institutional legitimacy. Policy implications include guidance for board secretaries and executive offices on standardizing value-alignment practices and governance disclosures. The study concludes with recommendations for integrating the framework into secretarial training curricula, performance appraisal systems, and ERP-enabled dashboards, along with directions for future research to test the framework in multinational corporations and nonprofit settings.