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Legitimacy

About: Legitimacy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26153 publications have been published within this topic receiving 565921 citations.


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TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that public participation which is not carefully ordered and constrained by administrators can lead to poorly conceived, unrepresentative, and costly policy decisions, and they also identify the potential shortsightedness of the administrative response to citizen demands, problems of representation and legitimacy, the style and tactics of citizen groups, and the absence of sophisticated costbenefit analysis of public interest policies and programs.
Abstract: Over the last decade and a half the increased activity, involvement, and influence of public interest groups and citizen organizations has become one of the most distinctive features of American administration.' Citizen groups have besieged administrative agencies and courts at every level of government with demands that they be allowed to participate fully in administrative proceedings, that they be given greater access to agency information, and that they be permitted to present any and all evidence in behalf of their interests before appropriate administrative and judicial tribunals. They have skillfully cultivated the press to broaden their appeal to administrative and political officials, established effective, fulltime lobbying organizations, and in some cases have put together sophisticated professional staffs which rival the agencies' own in their ability to grasp the intricacies and complexities of public policy issues. Furthermore, both the participants themselves and knowledgeable observers have predicted that the torrent of citizen suits and public interest activity seen thus far is only a small fraction of the deluge yet to come.2 On the whole, reaction to this surge of citizen participation has been positive. The general assumption is that broadened participation is desirable because it increases the representativeness and responsiveness of our administrative and political institutions, heightens citizens' sense of political efficacy, and acts as an important check on the abuse of administrative discretion. Yet in spite of the proven accomplishments of citizen groups in some policy areas, there is a growing body of data to support the contention that public participation which is automatic, unrestrained, or ill-considered can be dangerously dysfunctional to political and administrative systems. The purpose of this article is to explore the "other side" of the public participation issue * This article analyzes the problems which have accompanied the growth of the citizen participation and public interest movements. The principle problems identified are the potential shortsightedness of the administrative response to citizen demands, problems of representation and legitimacy, the style and tactics of citizen groups, and the absence of sophisticated cost-benefit analysis of public interest policies and programs. The author suggests that public participation which is not carefully ordered and constrained by administrators can lead to poorly conceived, unrepresentative, and costly policy decisions. Administrators are chiefly responsible for the integrity of the administrative process, and sensitivity to citizen demands is no substitute for independent, carefully reasoned, professional judgments regarding the nature of the public interest in each new administrative situation.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the professions as examples of "moral community" and explore how professional leaders possessed of moral intelligence can make a contribution to enhance the ethical fabric of their communities.
Abstract: This paper examines the professions as examples of “moral community” and explores how professional leaders possessed of moral intelligence can make a contribution to enhance the ethical fabric of their communities. The paper offers a model of ethical leadership in the professional business sector that will improve our understanding of how ethical behavior in the professions confers legitimacy and sustainability necessary to achieving the professions’ goals, and how a leadership approach to ethics can serve as an effective tool for the dissemination of moral values in the organization.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed compliance statements and reports of 257 listed companies in the UK and Germany, producing some 715 records of deviation from compliance requirements, and generated an empirically derived taxonomy of the explanations.
Abstract: The comply-or-explain principle is a central element of most codes of corporate governance. Originally put forward by the Cadbury Committee in the UK as a practical means of establishing a code of corporate governance whilst avoiding an inflexible “one size fits all” approach, it has since been incorporated into code regimes around the world. Companies can either comply with code provisions or may explain why they do not comply, i.e., why they deviate from a code provision. Despite its wide application very little is known about the ways in which comply-or-explain is used. In addressing this we employ legitimacy theory by which explanations for deviating can be understood as means of legitimizing the company’s actions. We analyzed the compliance statements and reports of 257 listed companies in the UK and Germany, producing some 715 records of deviation. From this we generated an empirically derived taxonomy of the explanations. In a second order analysis we examine the underlying logic and identify various legitimacy tactics. We discuss the consequences of these legitimacy tactics for code regimes and the implications for policy makers.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw upon prior research and theory on the legitimacy threshold that suggests entrepreneurs in start-up ventures will likely employ proactive strategies to gain initial legitimacy with key stakeholders.
Abstract: This article draws upon prior research and theory on the legitimacy threshold that suggests entrepreneurs in start-up ventures will likely employ proactive strategies to gain initial legitimacy with key stakeholders. We argue that these strategies may sometimes include questionable ethical behaviors, including telling legitimacy lies—intentional misrepresentations of the facts. Based on a review of literature on ethical decision making, we then apply two common ethical frameworks to explore the ethical boundaries of what may or may not be acceptable behavior in seeking legitimacy. We conclude the article with some specific guidelines for start-up entrepreneurs.

104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the empirical links between the experience of police corruption, perceptions of the fairness and effectiveness of the police, and beliefs about the legitimacy of police and found that police legitimacy rests not just on procedural justice but also the demonstrated ability to control crime and act ethically.
Abstract: Police legitimacy is an important topic of criminological research, yet it has received only sporadic study in societies where there is widespread police corruption, where the position of the police is less secure, and where social order is more tenuous. Drawing on data from a probability sample survey of adults in Lahore, Pakistan, we examine the empirical links between the experience of police corruption, perceptions of the fairness and effectiveness of the police, and beliefs about the legitimacy of the police. In a context in which minimal effectiveness and integrity is still to be established, we find that police legitimacy rests not just on procedural justice but also the demonstrated ability to control crime and act ethically.

104 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20245
20231,984
20224,252
2021967
20201,096
20191,281