Assessing the Institutional Legitimacy of Research and Technology Organisations in South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the institutional legitimacy of public Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) in South Korea (Korea hereafter), a catching-up economy. It reports the results of content analysis carried out on 200 articles, columns and interviews appearing in major Korean newspapers from February 1998 to October 2008 to assess the degree of institutional legitimacy that Korean RTOs enjoy. The results indicate that these RTOs have not achieved sufficient institutional legitimacy to maintain organisational sustainability. Not only have the governance and management systems of these organisations changed following each election of a new government in Korea, but the results also reveal discrepancies in opinions of RTOs amongst government policymakers, RTO researchers/managers, and opinion leaders in the country’s science and technology societies. Periodic policy direction inconsistencies are also identified. Taken together, these factors have hindered the institutional legitimacy of Korean RTOs. Drawing on the results of this analysis, this article suggests new policy directions for increasing the institutional legitimacy of RTOs in catching up and developing countries