Role Of Legitimacy Research Articles

Moderating effects of legitimacy on the liability- and R&D investment-innovation relationships in manufacturing SMEs

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the moderating effects of legitimacy on the liability- and R&D investment-innovation relationships in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Examining 2659 firms in South Korea, this study demonstrates that organizational legitimacy has not only the direct effect on innovation performance but also moderating effects on the relationship between liability and R&D expenditure and innovation performance. The present research provides evidence that normative legitimacy alleviates the adverse effects of liability on new product launches and the innovative sales revenue. Further, normative legitimacy weakens the relationship between R&D investment and innovation, whereas cognitive legitimacy can aggravate the adverse effects of liability but enhance the positive effects of R&D expenditure on the innovative sales revenue. The analysis presented in this study also demonstrates that the anti-synergistic interactions between regulatory, normative, and cognitive legitimacy can hinder the overall positive effects on innovation performance. This study extends the literature on legitimacy in the context of innovation by exhibiting that the strategic dilemma of SMEs regarding innovation can be a serious concern because of the conflicting roles of legitimacy on the liability-innovation and R&D invest-innovation relationship.

A critical evaluation of sustainability reporting in the Gulf Cooperation Council region

This study explores the sustainability reporting practices of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries until 2015 by seeking to answer four research questions as highlighted in the methodology section. The data were obtained from 331 sustainability reports derived from the GRI Database. The results revealed that sustainability reporting in the GCC region has gained momentum since 2010; thus, it is a quite recent phenomenon. Moreover, the country-level analysis indicated that the United Arab Emirates is far ahead of the other five countries in terms of sustainability reporting. From an industry standpoint, the study found that energy, service, financial and chemical firms take sustainability reporting more seriously than other sectors, which shows the role of legitimacy concerns in these industries. In addition, an independent assurance of sustainability reports appears not to have received considerable recognition by these countries. Finally, we elaborate on whether GRI makes a difference in sustainability reporting.

Infrahumanization and Socio-Structural Variables: The Role of Legitimacy, Ingroup Identification, and System Justification Beliefs

As there is a robust tendency to support system-legitimizing beliefs by appealing to stereotypes or ideologies, we examined the role played by the perception of the status quo in relation to the infrahumanization bias. We compared this bias in high versus low-status group members and tested the mediating role of system justification beliefs and ingroup identification. The results of a moderated-mediated regression model (N = 238) showed that the perception of legitimacy of one’s own status had differential effects on the infrahumanization bias: The perception of legitimacy was positively associated with the endorsement of system justification beliefs and negatively associated with ingroup identification among low-status group members, whereas the perception of legitimacy was positively associated with ingroup identification among high-status group members. In both groups, ingroup identification was positively correlated with the tendency to infrahumanize the outgroup, while the endorsement of system justification beliefs was linked to the infrahumanization among low-status group members only. The findings highlight that the Social Identity Theory and the System Justification Theory can be fruitfully combined to explain infrahumanization tendencies.

The Shifting Boundaries of Legitimacy in International Law

Legitimacy has become a central concern in international law. This article analyses an important aspect of the concept, namely the often-presumed link between legitimacy and the stability of institutions and norms. The explanatory role of legitimacy hinges on the descriptive elements attributed to legitimacy because, only by fixing those elements, a causal link can be established. The article contends that due to its conceptual features legitimacy cannot be circumscribed descriptively, making the tracing of its relationship to the stability of institutions and norms in the international legal order an intractable task. The article suggests that international lawyers should embrace the open-ended nature of legitimacy and focus on its dynamic dimension: legitimation. Legitimacy is treated as a rhetorical tool whereby actors try to pursue certain courses of action. The importance of legitimacy then lies in its employment for the shaping of perceptions with regard to how institutions ought to be.

Civic Agency in Governance: The Role of Legitimacy with Citizens vs. Donors

Civil society strengthening programs aim to foster democratic governance by supporting civil society organization (CSO) engagement in advocacy. However, critics claim that these programs foster apolitical and professional organizations that have weak political effects because they do not mobilize citizen participation. This literature focuses on how donor programs lead to low legitimacy of CSOs with citizens, limiting the means to develop agency toward the state. Here I investigate the influence of CSO legitimacy with donors and citizens on civic agency. Empirical research was conducted in Bosnia–Herzegovina on CSOs considered legitimate by donors, citizens, and both. I found that different forms of legitimacy were associated with different strategies and agency. CSOs with both forms of legitimacy, which have not received much attention until now, turned out to be of particular interest. These CSOs demonstrated agency as intermediaries between donors, government, and citizens, which enabled greater agency and broader outcomes.

The ‘codification’ of governance in the non-profit sport sector in the UK

ABSTRACTResearch question: Codes of governance have proliferated in recent years, yet academic research on why boards adopt and implement codes remains limited. This research focuses on the non-profit sport sector in the UK and looks at why codes have been adopted by a board of a non-profit sport organisation.Research methods: The research draws on a longitudinal case study of board processes in a national governing body of sport in the UK, drawing on non-participant observation of board and committee meetings, interviews and document analysis.Results and findings: We identify that the initial adoption of a code of governance is a way to create external legitimacy. Once adopted, a code of governance can strengthen the internal legitimacy and reinforce board members’ perceptions that the board is well governed. These two processes of legitimising are mutually reinforcing, serving to ensure that codes of governance become institutionalised at the board level. At the same time, while codes typically emphasise the importance of board members making autonomous decisions, in our case board members perceived that codes often constrained board autonomy.Implications: This is the first article to provide an ‘insider’, board-level perspective on code adoption in the non-profit sport sector. It also enhances debate on the role of legitimacy in code adoption, by distinguishing between external legitimising as a formal, impersonal process, and internal legitimising, which typically unfolds through discussion, negotiation and reflection.

Law and Moral Order: The Influence of Legal Outcomes on Moral Judgment

The current project explores a surprisingly overlooked question regarding the influence of legal outcomes on people’s personal morality. In four studies utilizing different scenarios of ethically questionable behavior, we compared the influence of four potential legal outcomes: indictment, conviction, exoneration, and closing the case without charges (Studies 1-4); we also examined the influence of these outcomes against the benchmark of people’s default moral positions in the absence of legal information (Studies 3-4), and looked at the role of legitimacy as a potential moderator (Studies 2-3). Results revealed that, as expected, legal outcomes affected people’s personal moral judgments. More specifically, we found that: (a) exoneration and closing the case increased the moral permissibility of the conduct at stake relative to conviction and indictment (Studies 1-4), (b) there was largely no impact of judicial versus non-judicial outcomes, such that no differences were found between closing the case without charges and exoneration, or between indictment and conviction (Studies 1-3), (c) the impact of the specific legal outcome compared with people’s default moral judgments was dependent on the issue at stake (Studies 3-4), and (d) legitimacy did not moderate the results, such that legal outcomes influenced moral judgment whether or not people held the legal system as legitimate. Taken together, this research suggests that both judicial and non-judicial legal outcomes play an important role in influencing people’s moral judgments, which has not been previously recognized.

Transforming the “International Unsociety”: Towards Eutopia by Means of International Recognition of Peoples’ Representatives

This paper proposes a criterion of legitimacy for recognition of governments as a contribution to the “revolution in the mind”, a procedural vehicle towards a transformed international society envisioned by Philip Allott in his latest work ‘Eutopia’. It is suggested that in order to promote a shift from mere State co-existence to Allott’s Eutopia – a unified and flourishing human society – the representatives participating in the international process of renegotiating common values and ideas must be chosen according to a criterion coinciding with this end, not based on effective territorial control. Against this background, different contemporary proposals for determining legitimacy of governments are discussed, none of which seem apt to designate those employing the central mediating function between inner-State societies and the international sphere. Neither constitutional legality nor imposing a system of democratic legitimation necessarily ensure adequate representation of the free choice of the peoples. By contrast, the right to political self-determination, understood as an entitlement to exercise public sovereignty and be represented by the chosen government, provides a point of departure for a criterion of legitimacy sufficiently respecting normative expectations of the distinct national societies. Beyond this relative component, however, the dual role of legitimacy on the international plane calls for certain additional criteria reflecting a prospective international society’s core values. Therefore, a regime’s commission of mass atrocities, violating ius cogens norms which prioritise human beings and their flourishing, invariably deprives it of legitimacy to participate in the international self-constituting. A criterion of legitimacy so understood – combining relative and absolute standards of legitimacy, thereby ensuring the representation of varying societies’ ideas while safeguarding certain international core standards – could facilitate a ‘transitory Eutopia’ of legitimate peoples’ representatives, ultimately serving as a catalyst towards Allott’s “shared humanity of all human beings”.

What counts in making marine protected areas (MPAs) count? The role of legitimacy in MPA success in Canada

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are powerful management tools used worldwide for conserving marine species and habitats. Yet, many MPAs fail to achieve their management objectives because of shortfalls in understanding the level of legitimacy stakeholders afford to an MPA. Legitimacy refers to the ability of a political action, in this case an MPA, to be perceived as right and just by the various people who are involved, interested, and/or affected by it. Using responses from key stakeholders and managers at two coastal MPAs in Atlantic Canada, this study examined the importance of various factors shaping perceptions of MPA effectiveness and the role of legitimacy in influencing those perceptions. Results indicate that most indicators of legitimacy are important to stakeholders for MPA effectiveness. Specifically, there was consensus across case studies on the importance of community leadership and the establishment of trust in determining the level of legitimacy afforded to MPAs. However key differences in perceptions were evident from stakeholders both between and within groups, and between stakeholders and MPA managers. A novel legitimacy framework and a stakeholder-vetted suite of indicators for legitimacy are presented and recommended for use by MPA managers in assessing the legitimacy of coastal MPAs, before, during and after MPA designation. The results provide an increased understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions of legitimacy, giving managers key additional information needed to establish effective MPAs in the future.

Customer portfolios – challenges of internal and external alignment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend the discussion about customer portfolios beyond simple identification of models and how they can be used for balanced resource allocation to a discussion about how portfolios should take into account views from relationship partners and how they should be aligned in internal as well as a relational context.Design/methodology/approachThe portfolio literature is reviewed (most recent, seminal, IMP related) and considered in the context of both the sales organization and the customers involved in the portfolio. A conceptual framework is introduced that helps improve the understanding of how customer portfolio models can actually be applied from a relational perspective.FindingsThe key aspects of the conceptual framework relate to how alignment of the relationships in the portfolio is achieved. Critical to this are the interaction spaces that facilitate communication relating to alignment and provide the context for the legitimacy of these actions to be discussed.Research limitations/implicationsThis framework needs to be empirically explored.Practical implicationsUnderstanding of alignment and misalignment processes in customer portfolios gives managers a tool to help to cope with the dynamic aspects of the customer portfolio. Recognition of the importance of communication to the process, the development of trust and the role of legitimacy also provides areas that managers can focus upon in their relationship management processes.Originality/valueThis conceptualization moves the consideration of relationship/customer portfolios beyond simply that of a resource allocation tool into a process that facilitates the use of the portfolio in relational processes and thus aids their understanding of how portfolios can be usefully applied.

Counter-Insurgency in Pakistan: The Role of Legitimacy

The Pakistani security forces have won their fight against the insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban, though terrorism will remain a serious problem for the foreseeable future. Victory was won not chiefly on the basis of new tactics, but of the recovery of legitimacy for the campaign among the population and the armed forces. This occurred when the war came to be seen as one waged not in the interests of the USA, but for the defence of Pakistan. In Balochistan, the nationalist insurgency has been different from and weaker than that of the Taliban—but may prove longer lasting. Military tactics in Balochistan have closely resembled those of the British Raj, and have been based with some success on fomenting tribal divisions and co-opting tribal elites.

Dimensions of Justice & Justification in EU and Transnational Contexts

This special issue sets out to explore the force of justice and justification and their role for the development and understanding of the EU and transitional realm. As the EU is increasingly facing a constitutional crisis, adjacent to the financial crisis, and perhaps most urgently the EU crisis of 2015; the migration and refugee catastrophe in the Mediterranean, at various levels in the EU decentralized and centralized hybrid system, the European journey to an ‘unknown’ destination seems to have momentarily come to an end. Or at least it is in need of a navigation tool for any further expansion and exploration of the Union project. It appears as if the EU has lost its narrative. Similar developments can be observed within, for example, the WTO, which has been in stalemate until recently. It is on this background, that the concepts of justice and justification have recently become important yardsticks within scholarly debates for understanding constitutionalism in the EU and other transnational context. The concepts of justice and justification however remain essentially contested concepts just as the two concepts might not be equated. In spite of this or maybe exactly because of this they however serve as useful starting points for raising some intriguing questions regarding the role of legitimacy in transnational contexts.

The role of legitimacy in pursuing environmentally responsible transportation practices

Shippers and carriers have been slow to pursue reduced freight transportation emissions, despite progress made in reducing emissions elsewhere in the supply chain. The purpose of this research is to specifically explore the legitimacy-related motivations for utilizing a voluntary environmental partnership (VEP) to improve environmentally responsible freight transportation practices (ERTP). This research develops propositions through case studies of U.S. shippers and carriers in an effort to better understand motivations for and perceived benefits from pursuing these practices through joining or not joining the SmartWay transportation VEP. The findings indicate that pragmatic and moral legitimacy are the primary legitimacy drivers of joining a VEP and implementing these practices. The benefits associated with membership in a transportation VEP are viewed positively overall, though more so by shippers than by carriers. Whether the company joined the VEP entirely of its own volition, as in the case of most shippers studied, or under perceived pressure from a customer impacts the perceived outcomes of VEP membership. The findings further suggest that membership in a transportation VEP can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce costs, which could encourage and expand these practices toward a cleaner environment.

Intergroup status differences as challenge or threat: The role of legitimacy

Based on social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) we examined the motivational consequences of intergroup status differences as a function of the legitimacy of these differences. Motivational responses were conceptualized in terms of challenge and threat and operationalized by their cardiovascular markers, as described by the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (BPS-CT; Blascovich & Mendes, 2010). Participants ( N = 104) were categorized in minimal groups. Group status and status legitimacy were manipulated in the context of an intergroup competition. High status elicited relatively more challenge (less threat) when status differences were legitimate than when they were illegitimate. Low status elicited relatively less threat (more challenge) when status differences were illegitimate than when they were legitimate. Cardiovascular reactivity in line with challenge mediated performance during the competition. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between social status and stress, and the BPS-CT as novel and useful motivational framework for studying social identity processes.

In search of the right fusion recipe: the role of legitimacy in building a social enterprise model

Social enterprises, as typical hybrid organisations, are embedded in a plural institutional environment in which some stakeholders regard achieving social goals as fundamental, while others see economic profit as the priority. A great challenge for social enterprises is dealing with the conflicts resulting from the diverse expectations of stakeholders. Based on the existing works on organisational legitimacy and the social business model, we propose a legitimacy‐based social enterprise model composed of three main phases, namely, legitimacy proposition, legitimacy strategy planning, and legitimacy strategy implementation. Our model is meant to serve as an effective legitimacy‐building tool for social enterprises of various kinds.

Aspirations identitaires, complexité institutionnelle et légitimité

Le processus de concrétisation d’une aspiration identitaire dans les environnements complexes restant largement méconnu, les auteurs étudient ici le rôle de la légitimité dans ledit processus. Cette recherche s’appuie sur une étude de cas comparative de trois centres de culture scientifique, technologique et industrielle (CCSTI) qui partagent une aspiration commune à devenir des intermédiaires de l’innovation au sein de leurs territoires. Les résultats montrent que la construction d’une nouvelle identité organisationnelle oblige ces organisations à s’engager dans des activités de légitimation envers leurs parties prenantes. Ils permettent de mieux comprendre la manière dont les organisations gèrent la complexité institutionnelle.

Mission Shift: The Role of Legitimacy in Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship can be viewed as a process of creating social value through innovation by combining resources in new ways, which can result in organizational tension when mixing economic th...

Trust in Justice 'Abroad' and the Role of Legitimacy in 'New-Crimes'

A key goal of the Fiducia project is to extend procedural justice theory in three new directions. The first relates to public perceptions of new forms of criminal behaviour. The second concerns the applicability of procedural justice theory to these new forms of behaviour. The third considers the notion that legitimacy crosses national borders. In this Fiducia report we motivate and outline core theory, concepts and measures. We also present the questionnaire to be fielded in seven European countries.

Legitimacy, Isostatic Pressures, and Collective Inertia: An Institutionalist Account of Incumbentss Responses to Discontinuous Technologies

We combine institutional theory with research on discontinuous change to explore the phenomenon of collective inertia — i.e., the sluggish responses to the emergence of a new technology observable among all incumbents in an industry. We start by investigating why collective inertia is particularly likely to occur in the case of a discontinuous technology. Our premise is that technologies become encapsulated in regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutions. Therefore, technological discontinuities elicit strong isostatic institutional pressures — i.e., coercive, normative, and mimetic forces that render incumbents prone to reject discontinuous technologies and thus explain why collectives of incumbents remain essentially similar, despite exogenous jolts. We also propose that collective inertia varies among industries as a consequence of three moderators of institutional pressures: regulatory stringency, which reinforces coercive pressures to continue relying on the old technology; the influence of template-creating institutions, which amplifies normative pressures to collectively adhere to the technological status quo; and the salience of legitimate leaders, which fosters the collective’s tendency to follow particularly inert industry leaders. We highlight the role of legitimacy traps in incumbent responses to discontinuous technologies, propose a more balanced view of legitimacy, delineate differences between isostasy and isomorphism, and discuss other theoretical and practical implications.

The Role of Legitimacy in the American Public's Wartime Attitudes

Scholarship on public support for war tends to focus on either events or elite cues. I seek to develop a theory to incorporate both explanations and public perceptions of the legitimacy of the intervention as a factor that anchors and moderates support over time. I argue that the public’s initial perception of the legitimacy of an intervention — formed in response to the vivid events and elite framing that corresponds with the initiation of a war — becomes their wartime schema. There is a ‘stickiness’ to this initial frame, and over time the public’s sensitivity to wartime events and responsiveness to elite cues is conditioned by their perception of the legitimacy of the war.