Managing Organizational Legitimacy: Communication Strategies for Organizations in Crisis

Abstract

Crisis situations can cause internal and external stakeholders to question the legitimacy of organizations. When faced with a crisis, organizations are compelled to communicate strategically with stakeholders to manage legitimacy. This study synthesizes literature on organizational legitimacy, crisis management, and niche-width theory to provide an investigation of the effects of crisis-response strategies on perceptions of organizational legitimacy. Using a quasi-experimental, 2 X 2 X 4 design, the study tests the hypotheses that (a) organizations that produce consistent crisis responses across stakeholders will enhance their legitimacy, while organizations that produce inconsistent crisis responses will reduce theirs; (b) generalist organizations are perceived as being more legitimate than specialist organizations; and (c) when combined, niche-width and crisis-response consistency will produce differing effects on organizational legitimacy. Conclusions drawn from the investigation support these hypotheses.

Crisis Communication Response and Political Communities: The Unusual Case of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

“…Members of that community may confer legitimacy upon the individual or organization. This way of thinking mirrors a greater shift toward seeing public relations not as a transmission model of communication (to use James Carey's [1989] term), but as a ritual model of communication (Massey, 2001). In the ritual model, people do not consume media for information so as much as to feel a part of a community (Carey), whether it is to participate in or identify with the Canadian nation or Ford Nation.…”

“…In a study of organizations, Massey (2001) suggests they can gain, maintain, and repair legitimacy. One gains legitimacy before a crisis by working in ways that an audience expects, dealing with stakeholders who believe in the organization, and redefining or modifying just what legitimate behaviour means.…”

“…In terms of image and message, Ford does regularly what the public relations literature encourages: consistency and coherence (Benoit & McHale, 1999;Hay, 1995;Massey, 2001). His history of good stakeholder relations with his core supporters creates goodwill, a reserve in marketing called the "halo effect" that mitigates crisis damage (Balzer & Sulsky, 1992;Nisbett & Wilson, 1977).…”

Thinking about the same things differently: Examining perceptions of a non-profit community sport organisation

“…Given the social construction of legitimacy, other researchers have articulated the dialogic nature of the concept, emphasising that to be legitimate, organisations need to be perceived as legitimate by relevant stakeholders (Cowden & Sellnow, 2002;Massey, 2001;Suchman, 1995). The need to understand how sport organisations become legitimate fits neatly with previous work arguing for sport organisations to spend more time developing understanding of audience expectations (e.g., Robinson, 2006).…”

“…Yet research of this kind is underpinned by an approach which seeks to improve how external audiences perceive the image of non-profit community organisations, while understanding that changing all perceptions is impossible. Given the dialogic construction of legitimacy in a broader organisational sense (Cowden & Sellnow, 2002;Massey, 2001), non-profit CSOs face significant challenges in creating a legitimate image for two reasons. First, studies of company image espouse the need to develop an organisational identity as a basis to state 'who they are' (Bhattacharya, Gruen, & Ahearne, 2005;Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003).…”