A stakeholder classification that sorts claims by three attributes, power, legitimacy and urgency, producing seven classes plus the nonstakeholder.
The salience model asks three yes or no questions about every stakeholder: do they have the power to affect the outcome, is their claim generally accepted as proper, and is that claim pressing. The combinations produce seven classes, from dormant at one attribute to definitive at all three, and anyone holding none of them falls outside the model as a nonstakeholder. Ronald Mitchell, Bradley Agle and Donna Wood published it in 1997 to explain which claims managers actually give priority to, which makes it a description of observed behaviour rather than a ranking of who deserves attention. The attributes are variable, so a stakeholder moves between classes as circumstances change.
See also
A stakeholder holding power, legitimacy and urgency at once, whose claim takes priority over every other claim on the work.
Identifying who holds a claim on a piece of work and classifying those claims, so that attention is allocated deliberately rather than by whoever shouts loudest.
Where this comes up
One row per stakeholder, one column per engagement level, and two marks per row. The distance between the two marks is the only thing on the grid you can actually act on.
Three attributes, seven classes, one question: whose claim gets attention first. Hold all three and you are a definitive stakeholder, and definitive stakeholders do not wait.
A reward is set in advance and conditional. Recognition is retrospective, unexpected and free. Most project managers control the second and none of the first, which decides where the effort goes.