Managing Legitimacy in Complex and Heterogeneous Environments: Sustainable Development in a Globalized World

The sustainability problems with regard to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services increasingly challenge the legitimacy of corporations. The literature distinguishes three strategies that corporations commonly employ to respond to legitimacy problems: adapt to external e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of management studies Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 259 - 284
Main Authors: Scherer, Andreas Georg, Palazzo, Guido, Seidl, David
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2013
Subjects:
Companies
Consumption
corporate legitimacy
corporate responsibility
Globalization
institutional theory
Legitimacy
Management development
Organization theory
paradox
Production
Stakeholder
Strategic management
Studies
Sustainability
Sustainable development
World problems
ISSN:0022-2380, 1467-6486
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The sustainability problems with regard to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services increasingly challenge the legitimacy of corporations. The literature distinguishes three strategies that corporations commonly employ to respond to legitimacy problems: adapt to external expectations, manipulate the perception of their stakeholders, or engage in a discourse with those who question their legitimacy. We discuss three approaches to determine the appropriate response strategy: one‐best‐way approach, contingency approach, and paradox approach. We argue that in the face of heterogeneous environments with conflicting demands, corporations that follow a paradox approach are likely to be more successful in preserving their legitimacy than those that adopt one of the other two approaches. We develop a theoretical framework for the application of different response strategies and explore the management of paradoxes by way of structural, contextual, or reflective means.
Bibliography:istex:F37F4F11830532E286BDC01B79FBE746B36A2F1A
ark:/67375/WNG-0T16KWFM-7
ArticleID:JOMS12014
Swiss National Science Foundation - No. 100014_129995
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:0022-2380
1467-6486
DOI:10.1111/joms.12014