Managing Organizational Legitimacy: Communication Strategies for Organizations in Crisis

Abstract

Crisis situations can cause internal and external stakeholders to question the legit imacy of organizations. When faced with a crisis, organizations are compelled to communicate strategically with stakeholders to manage legitimacy. This study syn thesizes literature on organizational legitimacy, crisis management, and niche-width theory to provide an investigation of the effects of crisis-response strategies on per ceptions of organizational legitimacy. Using a quasi-experimental, 2 X 2 X 4 design, the study tests the hypotheses that (a) organizations that produce consis tent crisis responses across stakeholders will enhance their legitimacy, while organ izations that produce inconsistent crisis responses will reduce theirs; (b) generalist organizations are perceived as being more legitimate than specialist organizations; and (c) when combined, niche-width and crisis-response consistency will produce differing effects on organizational legitimacy. Conclusions drawn from the investi gation support these hypotheses.