Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy Through Illegitimate Actions: A Marriage of Institutional and Impression Management Theories.

Elsbach, Kimberly D.; Sutton, Robert I.

doi:10.2307/256313

Cited by 902 publications

(523 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Regarding the latter, our identification of decoupling risk is an important contribution to understanding how and when firms adopt a symbolic strategy in response to external demands. Research has identified a decoupling gap in a variety of settings, including school curricula (Meyer and Rowan 1978), social movement communications (Elsbach and Sutton 1992), and corporate strategies Zajac 1994, 2001), but it has given much less consideration to the causes of organization-level variation in decoupling (Scott 2008). Contrary to research suggesting that firms' symbolic strategies are not monitored (Zajac and Westphal 2004), our results suggest that firms know they face a risk in decoupling and are less likely to do so the more likely they are to be monitored.…”

Section: Contributions To Institutional Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Marquis¹,

Qian

2014

Organization Science

1,186

1,203

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T his study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals on appropriate corporate activity.We integrate institutional theory with research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how different types of dependency on the government lead firms to issue corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and (b) how the risk of governmental monitoring affects the extent to which CSR reports are symbolic or substantive. First, we examine how firm characteristics reflecting dependence on the government-including private versus state ownership, executives serving on political councils, political legacy, and financial resources-affect the likelihood of firms issuing CSR reports. Second, we focus on the symbolic nature of CSR reporting and how variance in the risk of government monitoring through channels such as bureaucratic embeddedness and regional government institutional development influences the extent to which CSR communications are symbolically decoupled from substantive CSR activities. Our database includes all CSR reports issued by the approximately 1,600 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2006 and 2009. Our hypotheses are generally supported. The political perspective we develop contributes to organizational theory by showing that (a) government signaling is an important mechanism of political influence, (b) different types of dependency on the government expose firms to different types of legitimacy pressure, and (c) firms face a decoupling risk that makes them more likely to enact substantive CSR actions in situations in which they are likely to be monitored.

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Section: Contributions To Institutional Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Marquis¹,

Qian

2014

Organization Science

1,186

1,203

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“…For instance, such a sustainability strategy is a stronger shield to buffer external pressures and external scrutiny through manipulation than superficial reporting exercises and to present a façade of conformity [ 164 ]. A 'realist' façade of conformity can be a way to attract institutional support for illegitimate actions [165], a case in point being the instrumentalization of CSR practices by Mafia organizations [166].…”

Section: Schizoid Sustainability Strategy (Configuration D)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Configuring management control systems: Theorizing the integration of strategy and sustainability

Gond

Grubnic

Herzig

et al. 2012

Management Accounting Research

445

583

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Although organizations have embraced the sustainability rhetoric in their discourse and external reporting, little is known about the processes whereby management control system contributes to a deeper integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. This paper addresses this gap and mobilizes a configuration approach to theorise the roles and uses of management control system (MCS) and sustainability control system (SCS) in the integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. Building on the levers of control framework, we distinguish two possible uses of a MCS and a SCS-a diagnostic use and an interactive use-, and we specify the modes of MCS and SCS integration. We rely on these two core dimensions to identify eight organizational configurations that reflect the various uses as well as their modes of integration of SCS and MCS. We characterize these ideals-type configurations, explain their impact on the triple bottom line, and describe which mechanisms allow organizations to move from one configuration to another. In so doing, we highlight various paths toward sustainability integration or marginalization within organizations. Finally, we explain how our framework can support future research on the role of MCS and SCS in the integration of sustainability within strategy.

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“…Importantly for our analysis, studies have paid attention to the discursive aspects of legitimation. Researchers have shown how impression management is a central part of legitimation (Elsbach and Sutton 1992, Elsbach 1994, Arndt and Bigelow 2000, Brown and Jones 2000. Scholars have demonstrated that organizational spokepersons use specifics tactics to establish legitimacy (Staw et al 1983, Elsbach and Sutton 1992, Elsbach 1994.…”

Section: Legitimation In Organizational Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have shown how impression management is a central part of legitimation (Elsbach and Sutton 1992, Elsbach 1994, Arndt and Bigelow 2000, Brown and Jones 2000. Scholars have demonstrated that organizational spokepersons use specifics tactics to establish legitimacy (Staw et al 1983, Elsbach and Sutton 1992, Elsbach 1994. They have also illustrated how discursively established legitimacy is linked with identity construction and stakeholder relations (Hardy and Phillips 1998).…”

Section: Legitimation In Organizational Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Recursive Perspective on Discursive Legitimation and Organizational Action in Mergers and Acquisitions

Vaara

Monin

2010

Organization Science

277

282

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This paper challenges the predominant view that legitimation is merely a specific phase in merger or acquisition processes. We argue that a better understanding of postmerger organizational dynamics calls for conceptualization of discursive legitimation as an inherent part of unfolding merger processes. In particular, we focus on the recursive relationship between legitimation and organizational action. We have two objectives: to outline a theoretical model that helps one to understand the dynamics of discursive legitimation and organizational action in postmerger organizations, and to examine a revealing case to distinguish the inherent risks and problems in discursive legitimation. Our case analysis focuses on the merger between the French pharmaceutical companies BioMérieux and Pierre Fabre. We adopt a critical multimethod approach and distinguish specific discursive dynamics and pathological tendencies in this case. The analysis highlights the unintended consequences of discursive legitimation, the central role of sensegiving and sensehiding in discursive legitimation, the inherently political nature of legitimation and the risks associated with politicization, the special problems associated with fashionable discourses and the role of the media, the use of specific discursive strategies for legitimation and delegitimation, and the crucial role of actual integration results. This analysis adds to the existing research on mergers and acquisitions by treating discursive legitimation as part of the merger dynamics. In particular, our case analysis provides a new explanation for merger failure. We also believe that the recursive model connecting discursive legitimation and delegitimation strategies to concrete organizational action makes a more general contribution to our understanding of organizational legitimation.

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Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy Through Illegitimate Actions: A Marriage of Institutional and Impression Management Theories.

Cited by 902 publications

References 26 publications

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

Configuring management control systems: Theorizing the integration of strategy and sustainability

A Recursive Perspective on Discursive Legitimation and Organizational Action in Mergers and Acquisitions

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