Discursive strategies for internal legitimacy: Narrating the alternative organizational form

Steen, Martijn Pieter van der; Quinn, Martin; Moreno, Alonso

doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102162

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…In this case, identity claims provided the cognitive context for organisational members to discursively construct the comprehensibility of new non-routine and unfamiliar organisational practices. This lends support to the assertion that internal legitimation is often reliant on the logics in circulation in the organisation (van der Steen et al, 2022;Sapir, 2020) and in addition, demonstrates the usefulness of OI when examining these logics. Further, the analysis demonstrates that identity talk has a role to play in the discursive element of internal legitimation and, in doing so, provides empirical evidence to support Brown and Toyoki's (2013 p. 890) suggestion that identity talk, in particular, talk centred on an organisation's history, culture, key events, strategies, significant individuals and their actions, is important in any attempt to understand internal legitimation.…”

Section: Reflecting On the Emergence And Legitimation Of The Group's ...supporting

confidence: 68%

“…The mechanisms through which organisational members employ OI when constructing or evaluating legitimacy for new practices are not well studied, but existing literature suggests several potential overlaps between OI and IL. Internal legitimation is often discursive in nature and reliant on the logics circulating in the organisation (van der Steen et al, 2022;Sapir, 2020). For a new practice, comprehensibility is the initial hurdle that must be surmounted to gain internal support (Bridwell-Mitchell and Mezias, 2012).…”

Section: Sub-types Of Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adopting and adapting sustainability accounting: fit and faith in a family business

Maughan

2022

AAAJ

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically informed analysis of the evolution of environmental management accounting (EMA) and social and environmental reporting (SER), and the accompanying development of a sustainability programme, in a large family-owned, unlisted corporation.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal case study based on semi-structured interviews and documentary data was conducted. The main periods of fieldwork were carried out in 2007 and between 2010 and 2012. Sustainability reports were collected until 2019 when SER appeared to cease. The case analysis draws on the concepts of organisational identity (OI) and internal legitimacy (IL) to examine the decision-making and actions of a range of key organisational actors as they engage with EMA and SER.FindingsThe study demonstrates that a gap between an organisation’s identity claims (“who we are”) and its enacted identity (“what we do”) can enable the adoption of constitutive, performative and representational EMA and SER. It illuminates the nature of the role of key actors and organisational dynamics, in the form of OI and IL, in adapting these practices. It also demonstrates that, in giving meaning to the concept of sustainability, organisational actors can draw on their organisation’s identity and construct the comprehensibility of an organisational sustainability programme.Research limitations/implicationsMore empirical work is needed to examine the applicability of OI and IL to other settings. It would also be beneficial to examine the potential for OI work to allow organisations to change and reinvent themselves in response to the evermore pressing environmental crisis and the role, if any, of EMA in this process.Originality/valueThe study enriches our understanding of why and how EMA and SER evolve by demonstrating that paying attention to OI and IL can provide further insight into the decision-making and actions of organisational members as they recognise, evaluate, support and cease these practices.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Reflecting On the Emergence And Legitimation Of The Group's ...supporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Sub-types Of Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adopting and adapting sustainability accounting: fit and faith in a family business

Maughan

2022

AAAJ

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“…Drawing on the dyadic model of legitimacy proposed by Schoon (2022), (potential) legitimacy relations are explored. As noted by van der Steen et al (2022), for instance, discursive strategies are often used to build and maintain legitimacy. Here, the discursive instrument is the fisheries report.…”

Section: Legitimacy Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability and accounting for fisheries – six decades of reporting by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, 1935–1993

Quinn

Moreno

Bhatta

2022

AAAJ

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PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the relatively limited historic literature on social and environmental accounting/accountability. More specifically, the study explores accounting and accountability for fisheries over time and determines potential legitimacy relations as conveyed through reporting.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis method is used to analyse a fisheries-related section of an annual report of a state-owned electricity firm for 56 years (1935/36–1993). The time frame analysed is a period when environmental or social reporting was, in general, informal and not mandated. However, accountability was established for the company under study, through the legally mandated provision of (unspecific/discretional) information about fisheries activities. A lens evoking legitimacy relationships as a dyad is utilised.FindingsThe fisheries reporting within the case organisation is an early example of recognition of the important effects of business activities on the environment and biodiversity. The findings of the analyses suggest the content aligns with what may be anticipated in a contemporary setting. Drawing on trends noted from the content analysis, three potential legitimacy relationships are identified around the fisheries reporting. Only one is determined as a complete legitimacy relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited in that it is an analysis of one case in a single context. Also, the content analysis methods used were developed specifically for the study, which may limit their application. Finally, the data source used, and the historic nature of the study, to some extent limits the ability to determine some legitimacy relationships.Originality/valueThis study offers some insights on the historic nature of environmental reporting from a fisheries perspective in the Northern Hemisphere. The longitudinal nature of the analysis also offers insights into how the content of the reporting changed over time. Additionally, the use of a relatively new approach to operationalising legitimacy may prove useful for future researchers in the accounting discipline, especially given recent concerns on how the concept of legitimacy has been utilised in such research.

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“…Stories proved to be a powerful way to reduce resistance, since they enhance the understanding of change, by creating a wider comfort zone in the “transformed” environment. This usually takes the shape of “story-telling” (van der Steen et al , 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Story-making to nurture change: creating a journey to make transformation happen

Trabucchi

Buganza²,

Bellis³

et al. 2022

JKM

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Purpose To overcome change management challenges, organizations often rely on stories as means of communication. Storytelling has emerged as a leading change management tool to influence and bring people on sharing knowledge. Nevertheless, this study aims to suggest stories of change as a more effective tool that helps people in taking action toward transformation processes. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply design science research to develop and evaluate how writing a prospective story engages organizational actors in the transformation process. The authors test the story-making artifact in a field study with five companies and 115 employees who participated in 75 workshops. Findings Using the findings to discuss the role of story-making in facilitating the emergence of new behaviors in transformation processes, the authors link story-making with the opportunity to make change happen through knowledge dissemination rather than merely understanding it. Research limitations/implications The authors illustrate the role of iterations, peers and self-criticism that help story-makers embrace sensemaking, developing a shared knowledge based that influence individual actions. Practical implications The authors propose the story-making approach that organizations can follow to nurture change to make transformation happen through knowledge cocreation. Originality/value The research explores story-making as an individual act of writing prospective stories to facilitate the emergence of new behaviors through shared knowledge.

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Discursive strategies for internal legitimacy: Narrating the alternative organizational form

Cited by 15 publications

References 89 publications

Adopting and adapting sustainability accounting: fit and faith in a family business

Adopting and adapting sustainability accounting: fit and faith in a family business

Accountability and accounting for fisheries – six decades of reporting by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, 1935–1993

Story-making to nurture change: creating a journey to make transformation happen

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