Rationales and practices for dynamic stakeholder engagement and disengagement. Evidence from dementia-friendly health and social care environments

Latest developments in stakeholder management literature focus on dynamic stakeholder engagement and disengagement practices, and how these are facilitated towards reaching systemic outcomes. However, limited evidence support that this network-level approach can positively influence project success. The paper analyses this issue by considering the practices (how and when), rationales (why) and outcomes (so what) that evolve in the dynamic management of external stakeholders in dementia-friendly environments. This is a crucial area to explore as the ageing population and rising dementia prevalence has increased the need to engage external stakeholders, such as people living with dementia, to develop dementia-friendly health and social environments. The empirical study of the 2013/14 Department of Health National Dementia Capital Investment Programme involved a statistical and qualitative analysis of 98 pilot projects’ final lessons learnt reports. The analysis advances the dynamic process of timely engaging and disengaging external stakeholders in a context not previously explored in the literature related to dementia-friendly environments. Eight recurring practices and six rationales, the latter characterised by their temporal dimension, are presented in a processual model of stakeholder management.