Organizational Legitimacy (organizational + legitimacy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Global Reporting Initiative and corporate sustainability reporting in Swedish companies

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2003
Carl-Johan Hedberg
With empirical evidence from Swedish companies, this paper analyses the phenomenon of corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) in general and the use of CSR guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in particular. The main questions at issue are why companies have chosen to use the GRI guidelines and how this has affected corporate social responsibility and environmental management. From interviews with all Swedish companies that use the guidelines, we have found that companies produce CSRs mainly to seek organizational legitimacy, and that the main reason for use of the GRI guidelines is an expectation of increasing credibility of the CSR, but also that it provides a template for how to design a report. Moreover, we have found that the CSR report and the GRI guidelines are of more help for internal than external communication at this stage of development. It could help corporations to learn about themselves and to see what has actually been done in the organization. In all, the GRI guidelines would have the potential for gaining visibility and control of the triple bottom line on a corporate level, but they are in need of further development, not least in relation to the issue of verification. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A POLICE GANG UNIT: AN EXAMINATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS,

CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2001
CHARLES M. KATZ
Although researchers have begun to document the programs and activities performed by police gang units, little research has examined why police gang units are created and why they have responded to local gang problems in the way they have over the past 10 years. Using a multimethodological research design, the present study examines the factors that shaped a Midwestern police department's response to its community's gang problem. The results from the present study lend support for the institutional perspective. The data suggest that the gang unit was created as a consequence of pressures placed on the police department from various powerful elements within the community and that, once created, the unit's response was largely driven by its need to achieve and maintain organizational legitimacy. [source]


Organizational Challenges and Strategic Responses of Retail TNCs in Post-WTO-Entry China

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2009
Wance Tacconelli
abstract In the context of a market characterized by the enduring legacy of socialism through governmental ownership of retail businesses, the continued presence of domestic retailers, and increasing levels of competition, this article examines the organizational challenges faced by, and the strategic responses adopted by, a group of leading food and general merchandise retail transnational corporations (TNCs) in developing networks of stores in the post-WTO-entry Chinese market. On the basis of extensive interview-based fieldwork conducted in China from 2006 to 2008, the article details the attempts of these retail TNCs to embed their operations in Chinese logistics and supply networks, real estate markets, and consumer cultures,three dimensions that are fundamental to the achievement of market competitiveness by the retail TNCs. The article illustrates how this process of territorial embeddedness presents major challenges for the retail TNCs and how their strategic responses vary substantially, indicating different routes to the achievement of organizational legitimacy in China. The article concludes by offering an analysis of the various strategic responses of the retail TNCs and by suggesting some future research propositions on the globalization of the retail industry. [source]


The effectiveness of nonprofit lead-organization networks for social service delivery

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 4 2010
Bin Chen
Public agencies increasingly contract with nonprofit organizations to lead community-based networks for social service delivery. We explore the role that partnership characteristics play in the effectiveness of these networks. Using data on children and family services in Los Angeles County, we consider the impact of both the motivations for forming partnerships and the nature of the resulting partnerships on perceived outcomes for clients, interorganizational relationships, and organizational learning. We find that client outcomes and interorganizational relationships are enhanced when partnerships are formed to meet certain programmatic and organizational goals. Organizational learning, however, is affected only when partnerships are formed to enhance organizational legitimacy. Partners selected because they share common vision increase effectiveness, while those selected because there are few alternative partners decrease effectiveness. Finally, when partnerships use an interorganizational coordination mechanism, client outcomes are improved. The managerial implications of these impacts for the nonprofit sector are developed. The results lend considerable support to the role of partnership motivation and partner selection in the effectiveness of nonprofit lead-organization networks, and specificity about the nature of that role. [source]