The creation of legitimacy in grassroots organisations: A study of Dutch community-supported agriculture

•How grassroots organisations create legitimacy to support new activities is little understood.•Legitimation is crucial in obtaining critical resources for organisational survival.•Pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy are discerned.•CSA entrepreneurs seek legitimacy through conform, select and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental innovation and societal transitions Vol. 29; pp. 55 - 67
Main Authors: Van Oers, Laura M., Boon, W.P.C., Moors, Ellen H.M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2018
Subjects:
Community supported agriculture (CSA)
Grassroots organizations
Legitimacy
Local food networks
Organizational survival
Organizational survival
Local food networks
Legitimacy
Grassroots organizations
Community supported agriculture (CSA)
ISSN:2210-4224, 2210-4232
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:•How grassroots organisations create legitimacy to support new activities is little understood.•Legitimation is crucial in obtaining critical resources for organisational survival.•Pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy are discerned.•CSA entrepreneurs seek legitimacy through conform, select and manipulation strategies.•Grassroots entrepreneurs need to garner legitimacy from members and external audiences. Grassroots initiatives for sustainable development are blossoming, offering localised alternatives for a range of societal functions including food and energy. Research into grassroots organisations often recognises the difficulties grassroots groups face to continue operations. However, there is a need for better understanding dynamics that enable or constrain grassroots organisational survival. Here, we specifically shed light on how such survival is dependent on the organisation’s ability to construct legitimacy. In the context of community supported agriculture (CSA), we explore different legitimacy types and strategies. We learned that CSAs predominantly work to garner legitimacy from their members and that survival seems associated with social capital building. In addition, we observed a moralisation of food provision that describes why new and possibly inconvenient terms of exchange still amass legitimacy. As external audiences remain at a distance, they often misunderstand CSA, their deliverables and impacts on social welfare.
ISSN:2210-4224
2210-4232
DOI:10.1016/j.eist.2018.04.002