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Legitimacy Theory

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management

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Synonyms

Organizational legitimation

Definition

Legitimacy theory is one of the most cited theoretical frameworks within social, environmental, and sustainability accounting research. It is probably the most used theory to explain social, environmental, and sustainability disclosure (Campbell et al. 2003, p. 559).

The use of legitimacy theory in sustainability-related accounting research derives from the concept of organizational legitimacy. According to Suchman (1995, p. 574), “Legitimacy is a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions.” According to Dowling and Pfeffer (1975, p. 122), this is “a condition or status which exists when an entity’s value system is congruent with the value system of the larger social system of which the entity is a part. When a disparity, actual or potential, exists between the two value systems, there is a...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rome Unitelma Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Carmela Gulluscio

Authors
  1. Carmela Gulluscio
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Correspondence to Carmela Gulluscio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. London Metropolitan University, Guildhall Faculty of Business and Law London Metropolitan University, London, UK

    Samuel Idowu

  2. Cologne Business School, Ingolstadt, Germany

    René Schmidpeter

  3. College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Nicholas Capaldi

  4. International Training Centre of the IL, International Labor Organization, Turin, Italy

    Liangrong Zu

  5. Department of Economics, Society and Politics, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy

    Mara Del Baldo

  6. Instituto Politécnico da Guarda, Guarda, Portugal

    Rute Abreu

Section Editor information

  1. School of Energy Systems, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland

    Mirja Mikkilä

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Gulluscio, C. (2020). Legitimacy Theory. In: Idowu, S., Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Del Baldo, M., Abreu, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02006-4_175-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02006-4_175-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02006-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02006-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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