Abstract

This paper critiques and develops stakeholder-agency theory by examining the dynamics of health care provision. We suggest that while the integrated theory broadens agency theory's domain and provides greater specification to stakeholder theory, stakeholder-agency theory's admission of market inefficiencies, and thus power diflferentials, add to both stakeholder and agency theory by providing what each theory lacks: an ordering among multiple principals. We additionally recognize the ability of an explicit normative ethic to order stakeholders. A discussion o f the dynamics of health care provision demonstrates the implications of both sources of order.