Sociological Processes of Organizational Legitimacy

Program Director: Fabrizio Perretti

Objectives:
Several processes and concepts of a sociological origin, such as identity, status and legitimization, play an 
increasingly important and fundamental role in relationships within organizations and companies and in competitive and cooperative relationships between them and external environments. The configuration of these processes and the dynamics that they combine to create represent the pivotal topics of this research program. In particular, the program aims to help companies improve the development of their social capital and its use as an incentive within the competitive market; understanding how the collective reputation of a sector evolves and what determines its positive and negative dynamics; lastly, the program aims to help companies in new sectors establish the necessary levels of legitimacy for activities they carry out while at the same time helping companies which work in seasoned contexts protect their reputation from possible attacks.

Methodologies:
The program consists of three different levels and processes of analysis. The first level is the sector level, in which the process of legitimization is analyzed. The second level, the market level, is analyzed according to the perspective of creation and conservation of status, while the third level, the company level, is analyzed with the process of development of organizational identity and corporate acquisition of, and capacity for, cultural and social capital.

Team and Partners:
The research team, led by F. Perretti, is made up of several young and well-known Università Bocconi researchers (Castellucci, Ravasi, Soda) and makes use of collaborations with various international partners such as Emory University, Stanford University, University of California-Davis, Sabanci University and the University of Texas.