An Examination of Differences Between Organizational Legitimacy and Organizational Reputation*

Abstract

 Organizational legitimacy and organizational reputation have similar antecedents, social construction processes and consequences. Nonetheless, an improved understanding of relationships between legitimacy and reputation requires that differences between the two be specified and clarified. Our examination of past research indicates that legitimacy emphasizes the social acceptance resulting from adherence to social norms and expectations whereas reputation emphasizes comparisons among organizations. We empirically examine two antecedents of the financial, regulatory, and public dimensions of legitimacy and reputation in a population of US commercial banks. We find that isomorphism improves legitimacy, but its effects on reputation depend on the bank's reputation. Moreover, higher financial performance increases reputation, but does not increase the legitimacy of high performing banks.

Cognitive Legitimacy, Resource Access, and Organizational Outcomes

“…Our study suggests that universities with greater cognitive legitimacy are related to greater graduate employability, research productivity and social interest. These findings are consistent with previous research (Deephouse, 1996;Deephouse and Carter, 2005;Rossoni & Machado-Da-Silva, 2013).…”

Sustainability Dimensions: A Source to Enhance Corporate Reputation

“…Following Suchman (1995) legitimacy is "a generalized perception or assumption that actions of a firm are desirable, proper and appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values and beliefs". Both legitimacy and reputation represent assessments of an organization by a social system (Deephouse and Carter, 2005). These authors observe that there are several areas of overlap between both concepts.…”

A new approach for measuring corporate reputation

“…Both concepts are interrelated, where corporate reputation has been conceptualised as the accumulation of images over the years (Gotsi & Wilson, 2001, Mahon, 2002 (Fombrun, 1996, Bromley, 2000, Mahon, 2002, Prado, 2008 (Bromley, 2000, Karaosmanoglu & Melewar, 2006. Corporate reputation takes place when compared to a certain standard (can be against other firms in the industry) to determine the organization's relative position and general appeal (Deephouse & Carter, 2005) helping it measure its performance from an outside perception (Sarstedt & Schloderer, 2010).…”