Legitimacy-Seeking Organizational Strategies in Controversial Industries: A Case Study Analysis and a Bidimensional Mode
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Legitimacy-Seeking Organizational Strategies in Controversial Industries: A Case Study Analysis and a Bidimensional Model Jon Reast • Franc¸ois Maon • Adam Lindgreen Joe¨lle Vanhamme
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Received: 3 November 2012 / Accepted: 12 November 2012 / Published online: 29 November 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract 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. J. Reast Bradford University School of Management, Emm Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD9 4JL, UK e-mail: [email protected] F. Maon IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS), 3 rue de la Digue, 59000 Lille, France e-mail: [email protected] A. Lindgreen (&) University of Cardiff, Aberconway Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK e-mail: [email protected] J. Vanhamme EDHEC Business School, 24 Avenue Gustave Delory, CS 50411, 59057 Roubaix Cedex 1, France e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Case study Casino Controversial industry Corporate social responsibility Legitimacy Stakeholders
Introduction The precise categorization of controversial industry sectors and organizations (hereafter, controversial industries) varies over time (Campbell 2007; Sethi 1975) and by culture (Fam et al. 2004; Katsanis 1994). In the modern era, several legal industries are widely perceived as unethical or offensive and therefore can be classified as controversial (Freeman 2007; Waller et al. 2005). Such controversial industries relate to ‘‘products, services, or concepts that for reasons of delicacy, decency, morality, or even fear, elicit reactions of distaste, disgust, offence or outrage when mentioned or when openly presented’’ (Wilson and West 1981, p. 92), such as alcohol, gambling, firearms, pornography, or tobacco. Actors in these controversial markets struggle to gain and maintain organizational legitimacy (Palazzo and Richter 2005; Rundle-Thiele et al. 2008). Rather than focusing on organizations in controversial industries though, literature on organizational legitimacy emphasizes the importance of gaining the support and approval of external stakeholders to gain access to
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