Construct · 4 fields · 4 citations
One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.
● jingle · one word, four constructs Nearest construct by meaningconservationcompare the meaningsEvery construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to stewardship is conservation.
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A model of executive behaviour in which managers are cast not as self-serving agents to be policed but as trustworthy stewards, intrinsically motivated to serve the organisation and to align their own worth with its success. Davis, Schoorman, and Donaldson's 1997 Toward a Stewardship Theory of Management built this as a deliberate counter to agency theory: where the agency picture assumes opportunism and designs controls to curb it, stewardship theory assumes commitment and asks how structures can empower it. The referent here is a claim about the psychology and motivation of people running a firm, and it is distinct from a programme of caring for ecosystems, a religious duty toward creation, or a shareholder's oversight obligation.[1]
The responsible use and protection of the natural world, framed as an active strategy for sustaining the capacity of ecosystems to support people as conditions change. Chapin and colleagues' 2010 Ecosystem stewardship: sustainability strategies for a rapidly changing planet set out this idea, shifting the goal from holding nature at a fixed state toward guiding coupled human and natural systems through change so they keep delivering benefits. The referent is a practice of resource management judged by ecological outcomes, and it differs from a theory about managers' motives, a moral duty grounded in religion, or an investor's fiduciary role.[2]
A religious and ethical idea that human beings hold the natural world in trust, answerable for how they care for something entrusted to them rather than owning it outright. Attfield's 1983 Christian Attitudes to Nature argued that this stewardship tradition, treating people as caretakers accountable for creation, runs deep and old in Christian thought rather than being a modern invention. The referent is a normative duty about what people owe, defended on ethical and theological grounds, and it is distinct from a measured programme of ecosystem management, a behavioural theory of managers, or a shareholder's legal obligation.[3]
The idea that institutional investors owe a duty to monitor and engage with the companies whose shares they hold, acting as active owners rather than passive traders. Cheffins's 2010 The Stewardship Code's Achilles' Heel examined the United Kingdom Stewardship Code, introduced after the financial crisis to press fund managers to hold boards to account, and questioned whether dispersed institutional owners would in practice do the stewarding it asks of them. The referent is an oversight obligation carried by shareholders toward investee firms, and it differs from a theory of managers' motivation, a strategy for ecosystems, or a religious duty toward creation.[4]
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