Legitimation process in organizations and organizing: An ontological discussion 1

François-Xavier de Vaujany (1)

1 Université Paris Dauphine-PSL

Legitimacy and legitimation are key topics of the management literature. In the 70s and 80s, legitimating mainly meant convincing and sticking to the rules of a dominant external stakeholder (with a stable set of preferences) that needed to be convinced. Today, other processes have emerged. They are more based on the crowd-based, community-grounded, value co-creation oriented, and take the shape of big emotional waves pushed by an infinite sum of small generosities. In short, they are more de-centered. If the bulk of institutional concepts are powerful to explain the first situation (which still remains present), the latter process dynamic requires some revisions and extensions which are detailed here. By means of three ontologies of legitimation, I discuss three processes extending a discursive and judgmental view of legitimation.

Mots clés: Legitimacy; Legitimation; Ontologies; Materiality; Space; Time; Embodiment

Domaines: Gestion et management

François-Xavier de Vaujany. Legitimation process in organizations and organizing: An ontological discussion 1. Materiality in Institutions, In press. ⟨halshs-01868090⟩