This volume explores organizational legitimacy in business, featuring examples from a variety of industries around the world.  Synthesizing the most current theoretical insights and best practices, the contributing authors examine the ways in which organizational legitimacy can be understood, its perceived influence on the market, and the relationship between organizational legitimacy and overall organizational success. The authors draw from different methodological perspectives to develop a holistic approach to organizational legitimacy that transcends the traditional concepts of corporate reputation, business ethics or corporate social responsibility.

Historically, efforts to understand how organizations acquire, manage and use legitimacy have applied insights from institutional theory, resource dependence theory, organizational ecology and stakeholder theory, but the field has remained fragmented, despite the profound implications of achieving legitimacy for ensuringorganizational stability, survival and sustainability through access to capital, resources and business opportunities, as well as problem solving, performance measurement and stakeholder support. Presenting case studies of successful initiatives, the book addresses:

Preface.- Chapter 1: An integrative and comprehensive legitimacy typology to evaluate the organizational legitimacy.- Chapter 2: Distinctive features of legitimate organizations.- Chapter 3: Trends in organizational legitimacy research.- Chapter 4: Organizational legitimacy: Study of academic publications in scientific journals.- Chapter 5: Legitimacy as Competitive Advantage: A US Airline Case Study.- Chapter 6: Increasing Legitimacy and Dollars: Applying Institutional Theory to Nonprofit Fundraising.- Chapter 7: Legitimacy and success of the EHEA in the public universities of Madrid.- Chapter 8:  Legitimate business and its relationship with the corporate social responsibility: analysis between Mexico and Spain.- Chapter 9: Corporate Image as an element of legitimacy of Chinese steel companies.