企业社会责任的制度理性及行为逻辑:合法性视角

对企业社会责任的研究,学界一直是分歧多于应有的共识,主要原因是基于效率视角的经济理性分析主导着话语权,却过于注重技术环境和效率机制,而忽视了基于合法性视角的制度理性分析,忽视了制度环境和合法性机制。为揭示企业社会责任的行为逻辑,文章首先反思经济理性,并从新视角——合法性视角突出制度理性,指出制度理性是企业社会责任行为逻辑的起点。接着,按"制度环境—制度压力—企业行为"逻辑,着重分析了制度环境和制度压力对企业社会责任行为的作用机制,构建了合法性机制模型,其核心观点是制度环境对企业产生制度压力,通过规制机制、规范机制和模仿机制导致企业行为。最后,得出结论及其启示。     

论人情对中国市场理性化发展的影响

从人情社会转变为理性社会是传统社会现代化的必然。构建和谐企业文化,应从制度理性着手,构建法理型的制度体系。法理型制度的合法性基础来自基于经济理性的自由竞争和交换,在其中,人际关系主要表现为一种非人格化的权利义务关系。传统人情本质上注重忠诚、亲疏远近等人格化的情感关系。与人情社会相比,理性社会具有开放性、进取性和革命性,而人情社会则具有封闭性、保守性和传统性。只有法理型的制度理性扬弃了人情社会的制度非理性,才是中国社会现代化的制度目标,企业也才有可靠的制度保障。     

组织变迁的动力——基于组织场域的视角

20世纪80年代,组织理论研究开始转向新制度主义,并提出了“组织场域”概念。本文采用组织场域这一分析层次来研究组织变迁,认为组织变迁是组织在组织场域中进行的,组织场域是组织变迁的动力源泉。组织自身、场域中的其他组织以及政府构成了组织运行的制度背景,同时也为组织变迁提供了不同的动力。在组织与场域中的其他组织互动过程中,组织变迁得到正式化、制度化和合法性。     

论行政不作为的概念的界定

关于行政不作为的概念的界定,行政不作为是否合法学界一直存在争论,研究行政不作为对于保护公民的合法权益和国家的公共利益、维护行政秩序、树立行政法权威、建立和谐的法治社会环境具有重要意义。本文从行政不作为与行政作为的分类标准着手,来分析行政不作为的概念和行政不作为的合法性。     

公共政策的合法性基础

公共政策作为现代社会治理的工具,其合法性建立在战略理性、价值理性、工具理性、公共理性四者统一的基础上。公共政策的合法性,有助于增进人民幸福,维护公共部门公信力,实现社会良善发展。本文从公共政策的前瞻性、时限性、权威性和民主性出发,分析了公共政策的合法性基础。     

诺思制度变迁理论的思考

本文首先对制度的概念做出探讨,认为制度是社会的权宜之计。在诺思的三大理论:产权理论、国家理论、意识理论中提出其基本的研究模式,并对制度变迁的渐近与革命两种方式作出对比。最后提出我国的社会制度的合理建构建议。     

中西法律起源的经济分析

资源的稀缺性和人的有限理性是对中西法律起源进行经济分析的前提 ,经济学中的成本理论和马克思主义政治经济学的观点是对中西法律的起源进行比较分析的工具。在此基础上 ,法律被论证为在资源稀缺的前提下基于降低社会成本的作用而产生 ,中西法律起源的不同是由其经济基础、征战成本和社会成本不同决定的。     

创业网络与新企业绩效:组织合法性的中介作用及其启示

基于整合制度理论与社会网络视角,从政治网络、投资者网络和顾客关系网络三个方面提出并检验组织合法性在创业网络与新企业绩效关系间的中介效应。基于209份新企业数据,通过多元回归方法对研究假设进行检验,结果显示:政治网络、投资者网络、顾客关系网络与组织合法性正相关;政治网络与新企业绩效关系不显著,投资者网络、顾客关系网络与新企业绩效正相关;组织合法性在顾客关系网络与新企业绩效关系间存在部分中介效应,在投资者网络与新企业绩效关系间存在完全中介效应。     

制度压力下平台型企业合法性获取演化研究——以滴滴出行为例

合法性资源是平台型企业生存和发展的保障，但现有研究并未对平台型企业成长过程中如何获取合法性、合法性的类型进行系统研究。文章采用案例研究的方法，分析滴滴出行的合法性获取演化过程，探析平台型企业在不同阶段的制度压力约束下如何获取发展所需的不同类型合法性资源。研究发现：平台型企业成长的不同阶段所需要的合法性资源的类型不同，初创期需要认知合法性、震荡期需要规范合法性和稳定期需要规制合法性；制度压力是主导合法性获取与选择的决定因素，平台型企业依托“嵌入制度-顺从制度-构建制度”的路径动态获取各类合法性资源，逐步实现合法化的演化。     

试论海事规范性文件的合法性审查

海事规范性文件是海事行政管理、行政执法的重要依据。在海事规范性文件发布前,对其进行合法性审查具有重要意义。文章从审查的必要性、审查范围、审查要点等方面对海事规范性文件的合法性审查制度进行了研究,试图对该制度进行简要梳理。     

How Does Legitimacy Operate in Emerging Capital Markets? Investigating the Moderating Effects of Premium Listings and Firm Size on Risk

Drawing on an institutional theoretical perspective, we investigate the impact of the origins of organizational legitimacy on systematic risk using a sample of 358 Brazilian companies between the years 2002 and 2007. We regard three origins of legitimacy—formal–regulatory (presence in premium listings), cultural–cognitive (board of directors), and normative legitimacy (reputation)—to empirically investigate how a company's size and adherence to premium lists moderate other sources of legitimacy. Our results indicate that only under apparently better quality corporate governance conditions—presence in premium listings—do corporate reputation and the board of directors reduce systematic risk. In addition, we show that the effect of reputation on risk is positively moderated by firm size. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing Measurement Scales of Organizational and Issue Legitimacy: A Case of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of issue legitimacy and organizational legitimacy, providing a new measure of each construct. The scales were developed and tested using data collected through a statewide survey of Alabama residents. Assessments of issue legitimacy were based on perceptions of direct-to-consumer advertising, whereas assessments of organizational legitimacy were based on perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. The findings provide evidence that organizational legitimacy can be reliably measured using a five-item scale and issue legitimacy can be reliably measured using a six-item scale. The implications of the results and potential uses of the scales are discussed.     

Codes of Ethics and the Pursuit of Organizational Legitimacy: Theoretical and Empirical Contributions

The focus of this paper is to further a discussion of codes of ethics as institutionalized organizational structures that extend some form of legitimacy to organizations. The particular form of legitimacy is of critical importance to our analysis. After reviewing various theories of legitimacy, we analyze the literature on how legitimacy is derived from codes of ethics to discover which specific form of legitimacy is gained from their presence in organizations. We content analyze a sample of codes to consider the question of whether a strategic, self-interested rationale lies behind the adoption of a code of ethics. We propose that the process of employing codes of ethics in this strategic manner has become, through isomorphism, an institutionalized practice that itself confers a cognitive form of legitimacy to the organization and further distances the codes from their moral foundation.     

The Evolution of Business Groups’ Corporate Social Responsibility

Although establishing gender equality in board and managerial positions has recently become more important for organizations, companies with low levels of gender diversity seem to perceive an ethical dilemma regarding the ways, in which they attempt to attain it. One way that organizations try to move toward gender equality is through the use of their corporate websites to manage potential applicants’ impressions of their current levels of, and actions to improve, gender diversity. The dilemma is whether to truthfully communicate their low level of gender diversity, conceal it, or exaggerate it. On the one hand, organizations that are truthful may find it difficult to achieve equality because women are less attracted to companies that lack diversity. On the other hand, organizations that are untruthful risk their moral legitimacy. The present work investigates gender diversity-related communication on the corporate websites of 99 major German companies. Based on theoretical work on minority attraction, we apply an organizational impression management taxonomy to guide our in-depth content analysis. With this approach, we hope to advance the understanding of how the issue of gender diversity is presented on corporate websites, which is useful for both organizational decision makers as well as diversity researchers. We found that although gender diversity-related communications on corporate websites contain both assertive and defensive organizational impression management tactics, as well as a third type of tactic we refer to as “acknowledgement,” assertive tactics were used more frequently. We argue the existence of a paradox whereby organizations use assertive impression management tactics to maintain pragmatic legitimacy but compromise their moral legitimacy by doing so. Furthermore, we argue that moral legitimacy can be maintained or restored through the sincere use of defensive impression management tactics and acknowledgement.     

Exploring the determinants of organizational emergence: A legitimacy perspective

In an attempt to explain why some nascent organizations become new organizations while others do not, we contend that the process of organizational emergence can be understood and predicted by viewing it as a quest for legitimacy. We subsequently find empirical evidence to suggest that the actions a nascent organization takes (or strategic legitimacy) may be more important than its characteristics (or conforming legitimacy) in explaining organizational emergence. Such a conclusion is important in that it provides a theoretical framework with which to understand organizational emergence and in so doing advances our knowledge of this important process.     

Legitimacy-Seeking Organizational Strategies in Controversial Industries: A Case Study Analysis and a Bidimensional Model

Controversial industry sectors, such as alcohol, gambling, and tobacco, though long-established, suffer organizational legitimacy problems. The authors consider various strategies used to seek organizational legitimacy in the U.K. casino gambling market. The findings are based on a detailed, multistakeholder case study pertaining to a failed bid for a regional supercasino. They suggest four generic strategies for seeking organizational legitimacy in this highly complex context: construing, earning, bargaining, and capturing, as well as pathways that combine these strategies. The case analysis and proposed bidimensional model of generic legitimacy-seeking strategies contribute to limited literature on organizational legitimacy in controversial industry sectors. In addition, beyond organizations active in controversial contexts, this study and its implications are useful for individuals and organizations supporting or opposing the organizational legitimacy of organizations in controversial industries.     

Factors Affecting Individual Decisions Based on Business Legitimacy

In this paper, we study customer's legitimacy preferences from the perspective of individual social profiles. By doing this, we aim to determine the influence of the social context on decision-making processes that derive from organizational legitimacy perceptions. Through data collected from a sample of 258 individuals, we relate five individual characteristics to four business legitimacy typologies using regression analysis techniques. Results show that individuals with higher social consciousness are prone to make decisions about organizations that take into account moral and regulatory legitimacy perceptions. However, low-trust customers and customers with high decision visibility are more likely to assess organizations based on cognitive and pragmatic legitimacy considerations.     

Disclosing elements of disclosure: a test of legitimacy theory and company ethics

This paper focuses on some of the ethical issues related to voluntary disclosure of qualitative information by Canadian public companies. Drawing on various organizational theories, we examine some of the ways that companies can symbolically manage legitimacy through disclosure. Press releases of a sample of companies that received cease‐trading orders were analysed for their use of language. We found that high‐risk companies attempted to manage legitimacy by selectively releasing information and by using ambiguous language. Moreover, some companies behaved unethically by using language that suggested a positive future despite the imminent release of a cease‐trading order. These findings have implications for organizational and accounting theorists and stakeholders in the corporate, fiduciary, and investment communities. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.