The Legitimacy Theory and the Legitimacy Gap

Author(s):  
Tankiso Moloi ◽  
Tshilidzi Marwala
Keyword(s):  
2013 ◽  
pp. 35-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Michelon

The aim of this paper is to study if and how impression management varies during different phases of the legitimation process, in particular during the legitimacy building and legitimacy repairing phases (Suchman, 1995). We aim at understanding whether and how the disclosure tone adopted by a company in the two different moments is diverse and thus functional to the intrinsic objective of the each phase. The empirical analysis focuses on the case of British Petroleum Plc. We investigated the impression management practices undertaken by the company both during the preparation of the rebranding operation, i.e. a situation in which the company is trying to build legitimacy; and during the happenings of two legitimacy crises, like the explosion of the refinery in Texas City and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The evidence appears in line with the theoretical prediction of legitimacy theory. Results show that while the company tends to privilege image enhancement techniques during the legitimacy-building phase, it uses more obfuscation techniques when managing a legitimacy-repairing process. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the company makes more extensive use of impression management techniques in the disclosures addressed to shareholders, investors and other market operators than in the disclosures addressed to the wide range of other stakeholders.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1883-1891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Milanes-Montero ◽  
Esteban Perez-Calderon

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Farhan Basheer ◽  
Saqib Muneer ◽  
Muhammad Atif ◽  
Zubair Ahmad

The primary purpose of the study is to explore the antecedents of corporate social and environmental responsibilities discourse practices in Pakistan. The industry sensitivity, government shareholding, block holder ownership, print media coverage, environmental monitoring programs, and strategic posture are examined as antecedents of corporate social and environmental responsibility practices. A multidimensional theoretical perspective namely stakeholder theory (ST), institutional theory (IT), agency theory (PAT), and legitimacy theory (LT) is used to conceptualize the phenomena. All the four of perspective theories (positive accounting theory, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and institutional theory) claim that there are ‘pressures’ that impact the organization. How much ‘pressures’ are recognized, managed or satisfied differs from one perspective of theory to the other. To estimate the data, this study uses three sets of panel data models, i.e., the pooled ordinary least squares model (POLS) or constant coefficients model, fixed effects (FEM or least squares dummy variable/LSDV model) and random-effects models. The final sample is comprising of 173 firms over eight years from 2011 to 2017. The firms listed in PSX are included in the sample. Overall the findings of the study have shown agreement with the proposed results. However, the study has provided more support to the institutional theory and stakeholder theory. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholders Theory, Agency Theory, Pakistan


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilini Cooray ◽  
Samanthi Senaratne ◽  
Nuwan Gunarathne ◽  
Roshan Herath ◽  
Dileepa Neelangi Samudrage

Purpose This paper aims to examine the coverage of and trends in reporting content elements in the integrated reports of the Sri Lankan companies following the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF). Design/methodology/approach Based on a comprehensive checklist developed on the content elements of the IIRF, 171 corporate integrated reports were content-analyzed over a period of three years. The results were theorized subsequently using the legitimacy theory. Findings The study identifies that the extent of and trend in the coverage of content elements of the IIRF have increased during the period under consideration despite some under-addressed areas. It indicates that Sri Lankan companies are making progress in the preparation of integrated reports in line with the IIRF, which provides evidence in support of both strategic and institutional perspectives of the legitimacy theory because of the proactive actions taken by managers to acquire legitimacy along with the other normative and mimetic pressures available in the IR landscape. Originality/value This is one of the first studies that evaluate the compliance of IR adopters with the IIRF overtime in the entirety of a single country. It also develops a comprehensive index to capture the disclosure requirements of IR and extends the analysis to a voluntary context using both strategic and institutional perspectives of the legitimacy theory.


Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Omran ◽  
Dineshwar Ramdhony

This study provides an extensive critical review of the theoretical perspectives applied on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure literature. From a CSR standpoint we review and discuss, in detail, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, social contract theory, and signalling theory to identify the situations that suit each of these perspectives. The findings show that there is no universal theory applicable on corporate social responsibility disclosure for all situations or societies. While legitimacy theory suggests CSR disclosures are part of a process of legitimation, stakeholder theory offers an explanation of CSR accountability to stakeholders. Legitimacy theory seems to be more suitable for organizations working in developed countries, on the other hand, stakeholder theory appears to be most suitable for organizations working in developing countries; where a corporation can manage its stakeholders and the pressure to comply with existing legislation is less as compared to the developed countries. Social contract theory is appropriate for developed/emerged economies, as CSR disclosure exists due to an implicit social contract between business and society, which implies some indirect obligations of business towards society. Signalling theory will suit a situation where firms are competing for resources. A firm willing to demarcate from other firms will engage in more CSR practices. It is also important that the signal reaches the target audience by reporting on CSR. 


Author(s):  
Aleš Krmela ◽  
Iveta Šimberová ◽  
Viktorija Babiča

Incumbent B2B manufacturing companies join forces and form collaborative networks, called consortia, aiming to increase the circularity of their products. Our research interest lies in the understanding of how the business models (BM) of the companies and the industry are affected by such collaborations in the collaborative networks of the circular economy (CE). Given the exploratory nature of our empirical research, we applied a mixed research strategy of an inductively deductive nature. We carried out case studies in a manufacturing industry field and combined them with quantitative content analyses of the companies’ financial and non-financial reports. Drawing on the assumptions of the Attention-Based View Theory and Legitimacy Theory, we defined and found verbally communicated identifiers of BM elements, CE strategies, and collaborative networks, quantified their occurrences, and transformed them into variables. Using correlation analyses, we determined the tightness and the changes in relationships between the BMs’ elements and CE strategies. We examined the dynamic changes in the structure of BMs and their elements occurring within the implementation of selected CE strategies. Our findings suggest that collaborative networks for CE support an adaptation of the industry’s BMs. The higher-level CE strategies impact the BM more than the lower-level ones. The contribution of our research is in the suggested method of quantification and concretization of an abstract concept of BMs’ elements and their interrelations. This enables an assessment and a direct comparison of BMs, as well as of implemented CE strategies across companies and across industries. Our results also shed more light on the way the companies and industries adapt their BMs towards reaching circularity, as well as on how collaborative networks support such a transition.


2017 ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Nicolás Fleet

ResumenEste artículo desarrolla, en tres pasos, una perspectiva original de la teoría de la dominación de Max Weber. El primer paso establece un vínculo necesario entre las formas típicas de dominación política y los intereses sociales, de modo que toda acción política debe legitimarse ante el interés general. El segundo paso explica las crisis de legitimación como una respuesta a cambios de identidad en la base social de la dominación política, de tal forma que se introduce un concepto dinámico de legitimidad. El tercer paso establece que los valores que habitan en las formas legitimas de dominación política son usados como orientaciones simbólicas por parte de intereses sociales y acciones políticas particulares, de manera que toda forma de legitimación de la autoridad encierra, en sus propias premisas, los argumentos que justifican luchas políticas hacia la modificación de los esquemas de dominación.Palabras clave: legitimidad, dominación, acción política, democratización.Abstract This article develops, in three steps, an orignal perspective of Weber’s legitimacy theory. The first one, establishes a necessary link that exists between the typical forms of legitimate domination and the social interests, in such a way that every political action that purse the realization of its interests has to legitimate itself before the general will. The second explains the legitimation crises as a response to indentity changes at the social base of the political domination and, in so doing, it introduces a dinamic concept of legitimacy. The third step states that the values that dwell in legitimate forms of political domination are used as symbolic orientations by particular social intersts and political actions, in a way that each form of authority legitimation encapsulate, in its own premises, the arguments that justify political struggles aiming toward the modification of the domination schemes.Key words: legitimacy, domination, political action, democratization.


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