Nairobi, Feb. 17 -- A new global study by Francois Neville, Alessandra Rizzi, and Jeffrey Lovelace, that is taking organisational behaviourists by storm in the past week, provides great insight into how chief executives personally shape how organisations respond to external activists or community pressures.

Researchers call this type of pressure and activism secondary stakeholder demands. Previously thought of as merely a domain of NGOs that concern themselves with community and broader stakeholder opinions, now, in the age of viral social media and swift information exchange, for profit companies and large multinational conglomerates even focus on broader opinions regarding their business deadlines.

Secondary stakeholders can include a...