Establishing a typology for stewardship: a nexus of opportunity for organisational and environmental management

Stewardship is often conceptualised as a governance practice that is beneficial to the resources under management. However, the broad range of stewardship interpretations and practical applications in a variety of fields has led to a complex landscape of both competing and complementary initiatives. Whilst there has been significant discussion over the role of stewardship as an environmental ethic, there has been little attempt to find the synergies and connections between such activities and other establishes implementations—such as the pivotal role it plays in organisational management. In this paper, we conceptualise a transdisciplinary typology through which the landscape of stewardship initiatives can be understood. Additionally, we summarise the history of stewardship to colour the present day context, and explore the meaning of key differences that arise from the proposed archetypes. Specifically, this includes the varying role of the principal and the effect of the prevailing frame of reference. Finally, we also offer recommendations on developing future stewardship research.