This study investigates owner identity as important determinant of stakeholder orientation. We develop hypotheses based on the owners` relationship with the firm and their access to infor-mation. Examining individual owners, including families, founders, and lone entrepreneurs, alongside institutional investors categorized based on their investment time horizon, we identify distinct degrees of stakeholder orientation. Institutional investors demonstrate a heightened stakeholder orientation, driven by their responsiveness to external demands for transparency. In contrast, individual owners, who benefit from private information and maintain informal stake-holder ties, exhibit a lower level of stakeholder orientation. Empirical testing validates these find-ings and reveals nuanced variations in stakeholder orientation within specific owner sub-classes, such as high turnover and low turnover institutional investors, as well as distinctions between families and other individual owners. This research contributes to the existing literature on stake-holder orientation, advances the new stakeholder theory, and expands upon the literature on owner heterogeneity.