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.     

Questioning Organizational Legitimacy: The Case of U.S. Expatriates

It has been estimated that U.S. companies with global business operations can reduce their U.S. tax bill by up to 10 percentage points if they reincorporate in a zero or low tax offshore jurisdiction. But this activity, at a time of national crisis following the September 11 terrorists' attacks and recent spate of corporate scandals, has received a less than sympathetic response from the U.S. media, ordinary taxpayers, shareholders and politicians as concerns are raised about the reduction of the tax base and the lack of oversight and regulation in offshore centres. Offshore reincorporation has been condemned as immoral, unconscionable, dishonest and unpatriotic, accusations that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the companies concerned. In question is their right to conduct business in the U.S. and in particular, their right to still be viewed as American. Their legitimacy once bestowed so readily by the company's shareholders is now being questioned not only by shareholders but also the media, politicians, government regulators, pension funds and labour unions. Expatriate companies have been slow to respond to questions of their legitimacy, viewing their offshore move as a financial decision needing only the consent of their shareholders. However, times have changed and corporate legitimacy is now in the hands of all the company's stakeholders. Companies will need to explicitly consider the determinants of their legitimacy and the implications of the implied social contract under which they operate, to remain relevant in the days ahead.     

Coffee as a Medium for Ethical,Social, and Political Messages: Organizational Legitimacy and Communication

This research examines how an organization, Thanksgiving Coffee, establishes and maintains its legitimacy with its constituent publics. In line with Boyd’s (2000, Journal of Public Relations Research 12(4), 341–353.) concept of actional legitimacy, Thanksgiving Coffee demonstrates a legitimation strategy addressing social issues and by responding to ethical and political questions. Applying Fisher’s (1984, Communication Monographs 51, 1–18) concepts of narrative fidelity and probability, Thanksgiving Coffee’s policies and communication activities were found to alleviate the social issues to which they were addressed and therefore reinforce perceptions of legitimacy among publics. Viewing the influence of organizations from a different perspective, this study provides an example of how the policies of an organization can have a positive impact on the broader society in which it operates. Gregory G. De Blasio teaches courses related to business communication, public relations writing, and marketing communication campaigns. His research interests include the study of communication campaigns as they relate to social issues and organizational legitimacy. Dr. De Blasio joined the Communication Department at Northern Kentucky University in 2004. His Ph.D. in communication is from Wayne State University. He received his M.A. from the Pennsylvania State University and his B.A. from William Paterson University. A past International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) board member and chapter president in Detroit, Greg has provided public relations and marketing communication counsel to clients based in Detroit and elsewhere.     

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。     

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.     

Organizational Ethical Standards and Organizational Commitment

Organizations interested in employee ethics compliance face the problem of conflict between employee and organizational ethical standards. Socializing new employees is one way of assuring compliance. Important for longer term employees as well as new ones, however, is making those standards visible and then operable in the daily life of an organization. This study, conducted in one large organization, found that, depending on organizational level, awareness of an organization's ethical standards is predicted by managerial adherence to and organizational compliance with those standards and/or discussions with peers. Regardless of level, organizational commitment was predicted most strongly by managerial adherence to organizational standards. These findings have theoretical implications for the fields of business ethics, organizational identity and organizational socialization and practical implications for the implementation of ethics policies.     

The Paradox and Constraints of Legitimacy

This article contributes to the literature on legitimacy by highlighting its paradox and constraints. While an optimal level of legitimacy-seeking behaviours may be necessary for organizational effectiveness, an excessive focus on legitimacy may lead to stakeholder mismanagement and have the opposite effect. These insights emerged from a longitudinal qualitative study of large-scale changes in public-sector health care in a Canadian province (1994–2002). In 1994, subordinate health care organizations underwent government-driven reforms to promote market-based logics of efficiency and cost reduction. Initial years post reforms were characterized by a singular focus on government-driven priorities and inattention to other stakeholders. However, instead of giving benefits of legitimacy, these behaviours led to anger and activism from non-institutional stakeholders such as staff and community due to a decline in quality and patient satisfaction. Eventually, greater attention to stakeholder concerns ended the stand-off. These findings also elaborate Suchman’s (Academy of Management Review 20(3), 571–610, 1995) framework on legitimacy and explain that legitimacy may occur for reasons other than institutionalization of values and be temporary in nature.     

Three Elements of Stakeholder Legitimacy

This paper focuses attention on the stakeholder attribute of legitimacy. Drawing upon institutional and stakeholder theories, I develop a framework of stakeholder legitimacy based on its three aspects—legitimacy of the stakeholder as an entity, legitimacy of the stakeholder’s claim, and legitimacy of the stakeholder’s behavior. I assume that stakeholder legitimacy is socially constructed by management and that each of its three aspects exists in degree in the manager’s perception. I discuss how these aspects interact and change over time, and propose an agenda for future research on stakeholder legitimacy.     

“可持续发展与能源效率媒体论坛”召开

坚持可持续发展,行动在当下面对全球严峻的能源和环境趋势,我们可以做什么？2012年8月7日,全球领先的动力管理企业伊顿公司在北京举办＂可持续发展与能源效率媒体论坛＂,伊顿公司董事长兼首席执行官柯仁杰（Alexander M.Cutler）亲临现场,向与会的40多家媒体传达了伊顿的理念：伊顿将可持续发展作为核心内容纳入到伊顿全球和中国未来的发展战略,不断开拓新兴市场和新的市场机遇,把公司打造成能源效率和动力管理领域的领袖型企业。     

Internationalization and Organizational Change

Abstract

This work analyzes the changes caused by the adoption of a strategy of internationalization in two Brazilian companies: Embraco of the machinery sector and Bamerindus of the banking sector. In the case of Embraco, it was confirmed that there was a relation between three specific instances in the process of internationalization and the adoption of mechanisms of normative integration by the company connected to the dissemination of values, transfers of personnel, communication between the units, programs of personnel exchange, and training and job rotation. In the case of Bamerindus, the impact of internationalization on the interpretive schemes of the organizational managers at each strategic level was evaluated. In both cases, the effect of internationalization was gradual and continuous, characterizing the change as incremental although the direction of change was different in each of the companies analyzed. The explanation for the type of change in each case appears to result from differences in interpretation of which environment constituted the institutional context of reference of each company.     

可持续发展报告的可靠性审核——提升组织的社会信誉

在经济全球化时代,跨国公司之间的竞争已经从过去主要是硬件竞争,同时上升到软件的竞争;从过去主要是技术、产品的竞争上升到公司社会责任理念以及道德水准的竞争。先进的公司社会责任理念和行为,成为企业制胜不可或缺的核心竞争力。为此,越来越多的     

Legitimacy and accelerated internationalisation: An Indian perspective

This paper extends the institutional theory perspective by examining the strategic behaviour of founders of smaller service firms in a key emerging economy—India. Building on accelerated internationalisation and legitimacy literature in the emerging market context, we provide a new perspective, emerging market aggressiveness, which explains why founders/managers are not always passive recipients of their environment. Their selections of locations are dependent on the vision and stretch goals of the founder and their ability to gain legitimacy quickly to move that vision to a reality. They do not appear to be limited by their potential liabilities of newness, foreignness, emergingness or outsidership. They adopt committed modes of entry from the outset to build their legitimacy and reduce their liability as an outsider. Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, we demonstrate that managers are able to use proactive, planned and unplanned strategies simultaneously, in order to quickly prepare themselves to take advantage of transient international opportunities, ahead of their competitors in advanced markets.     

基于工作态度的组织支持感与组织公平对组织公民行为的影响研究

本文采用我国中小企业员工样本,运用相关分析和回归分析方法研究组织支持感与公平感对组织公民行为影响的作用机制,即组织支持与公平感是否会通过员工工作态度的中介作用对组织公民行为产生影响。结果表明:员工的组织支持感和公平感均对情感承诺、工作满意度和组织公民行为有显著影响;情感承诺对组织支持感、组织公平分别与组织公民行为间的关系起到部分中介作用;但工作满意度仅对互动公平与组织公民行为间的关系起到部分中介作用;而其余的中介效应检验中,工作满意度仅对组织支持感、分配公平、程序公平分别与指向个体的组织公民行为起到部分中介作用。     

信息技术与虚拟组织

技术变革对企业组织运形态有很大影响。从信息技术的普遍特性(功能性)和对虚拟企业的专有特性(使能性)两个角度分析了信息技术同虚拟企业之间的关系,并就企业的虚拟化实施过程中,如何给与信息技术合理定位,提出了一些参考性建议。