Can radicals get a seat on the negotiation table? A Dynamic Perspective on Legitimation Processes.

Abstract

The growing body of the cultural entrepreneurship literature seeks to understand how actors facing the liability of newness gain legitimacy in the eyes of resource holding audiences. However, less is known about how dynamics play out overtime when an actor with a lack of legitimacy seeks to regain it. In this paper, we conduct a qualitative, in-depth case study of a radical soccer fan community facing an identity-threatening political decision (i.e., relocating their fan zone within their stadium). Realizing that they lack a seat on the negotiation table and their traditional forms of protest bore no fruits, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to promote their cause (i.e., keeping the fan zone). The radicals successfully raised money and - even more important - convinced several national and international audiences, ultimately resulting in a legitimacy gain in the critical local political audience's eyes. This paper demonstrates how digital artifacts such as crowdfunding serve as a mechanism for dissociating with illegitimate elements while reconfiguring the links with the environment to gain legitimacy. Moreover, we demonstrate that actors with a lack of legitimacy first need to gain endorsements from other actors before turning to the actor holding the most critical resource.