An issue-based approach to organisational legitimacy: the case of Namdeb

In this investigative study an issue-based approach is employed to examine the effects of a continuous flux of everyday, dynamic and often interconnected or interrelated political, economic, social, environmental and legislative issues involving mostly external stakeholders. The case study method was used and the issues influencing the legitimacy of Namdeb, a public private joint venture (PPJV) between the Government of Namibia and De Beers, international diamond miner and retailer was investigated. The findings show that a number of interconnected and constant issues collectively influence organisational legitimacy on a daily and continuous basis. Furthermore, most of these issues are moral issues. Moreover, political issues were specifically identified as a major source of adverse impact on organisational legitimacy. On both the theoretical and practical levels, the need for a tool to help with the identification, classification and management of the issues affecting organisational legitimacy was also recognised. To assist with this, a two- dimensional alternative to Suchman's (1995) typology of organisational legitimacy which is considered the reference in the field of legitimacy theory, was developed by taking into consideration issue and legitimacy types. The study was conducted for two main reasons. Firstly, no existing study concentrating on the various collective and everyday issues affecting organisational legitimacy has thus far been embarked upon. Secondly, no empirical evidence based on the direct input, or more precisely points of view of external stakeholders, has been identified in the current literature and yet organisational legitimacy is said to be dependent on some degree of shared agreement among societal constituencies or stakeholders that an organisation is aligned with accepted notions of purpose, endeavor and outcomes

Fuzzy reporting as a way for a company to greenwash: perspectives from the Colombian reality

Drawing on the legitimacy theory framework, this study introduces an alternative means to spot “fuzzy reporting” signals as a way to detect greenwashing at the firm level. Its approach is based on the way the sustainability reporting process can mislead stakeholders after critical incidents take place. In order to do so, a single environmental incident, which took place in Colombia, is analyzed in light of what happened before, during and afterwards, with special emphasis on the corporate disclosure process performed by the company involved. Results obtained give support to the assumption that fuzzy reporting can be objectively detected not only through the analysis of annual sustainability reports, but also by tracking other forms of corporate messages when a specific concern is carefully followed. This study’s contribution is two-fold. First, it builds on the theoretical notions of greenwashing and fuzzy reporting by illustrating a practical and objective way to identify some deceiving corporate practices. Second, it empirically evaluates this approach in a sensitive context in order to obtain better illustration and prepare the groundwork for further studies

Fuzzy reporting as a way for a company to greenwash: perspectives from the Colombian reality

Drawing on the legitimacy theory framework, this study introduces an alternative means to spot “fuzzy reporting” signals as a way to detect greenwashing at the firm level. Its approach is based on the way the sustainability reporting process can mislead stakeholders after critical incidents take place. In order to do so, a single environmental incident, which took place in Colombia, is analyzed in light of what happened before, during and afterwards, with special emphasis on the corporate disclosure process performed by the company involved. Results obtained give support to the assumption that fuzzy reporting can be objectively detected not only through the analysis of annual sustainability reports, but also by tracking other forms of corporate messages when a specific concern is carefully followed. This study’s contribution is two-fold. First, it builds on the theoretical notions of greenwashing and fuzzy reporting by illustrating a practical and objective way to identify some deceiving corporate practices. Second, it empirically evaluates this approach in a sensitive context in order to obtain better illustration and prepare the groundwork for further studies

Fuzzy reporting as a way for a company to greenwash: perspectives from the Colombian reality

Drawing on the legitimacy theory framework, this study introduces an alternative means to spot “fuzzy reporting” signals as a way to detect greenwashing at the firm level. Its approach is based on the way the sustainability reporting process can mislead stakeholders after critical incidents take place. In order to do so, a single environmental incident, which took place in Colombia, is analyzed in light of what happened before, during and afterwards, with special emphasis on the corporate disclosure process performed by the company involved. Results obtained give support to the assumption that fuzzy reporting can be objectively detected not only through the analysis of annual sustainability reports, but also by tracking other forms of corporate messages when a specific concern is carefully followed. This study’s contribution is two-fold. First, it builds on the theoretical notions of greenwashing and fuzzy reporting by illustrating a practical and objective way to identify some deceiving corporate practices. Second, it empirically evaluates this approach in a sensitive context in order to obtain better illustration and prepare the groundwork for further studies

Engaging with untruthful company crisis communication: The understanding of decoupling in the face of crisis

[EN] Purpose: By considering the organizational legitimacy framework, this work examines how offending companies decouple their narratives from the facts as a communication strategy when handling environmental crises in the Latin American context. It also considers the implications of such behavior in terms of its potential inconsistency with the organizational value system, and therefore with the ethical sense of the crisis communication practice. Design/methodology: The research relies on a multi-case study approach, where four major environmental incidents involving four extractive companies in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina are analyzed. By scrutinizing public sources, these companies¿ crisis communication processes are examined to allow for the linking of theory and practice. Findings: Results obtained suggest that to defend their legitimacy, companies deliberately conveyed untruthful messages and decouple their communication in crisis from reality, which in turn exposes a delinking between values and actions, resulting in ethical concerns for the practice of both crisis management and crisis communication. This work identifies four different decoupling-based crisis communication strategies performed by companies and the way these are accompanied by secondary strategies. Research limitations/implications: By emphasizing the connection between legitimacy and crisis communication, the study illustrates how narrative-fact decoupling (i.e., untruthful crisis communication practices) can be an indicative of more profound organizational contradictions. However, due to the constraints of case studies, it is acknowledged that the results obtained have boundaries for generalization. Originality/value: Instead of approaching decoupling as a trigger for crisis, the present investigation considers decoupling as a communicational strategy some companies engage with, when handling crisis. Furthermore, by focusing on Latin America, the study reflects the potential impact that the geographical context may have on the bodies of knowledge of organizational crisis communication and legitimacy.The authors received financial support from the Universidad Industrial de Santander (Colombia) for the research, authorship, and publication of this articleContreras-Pacheco, OE.; Claasen, C.; Garrigós Simón, FJ. (2021). Engaging with untruthful company crisis communication: The understanding of decoupling in the face of crisis. Intangible Capital. 17(1):31-51. https://doi.org/10.3926/ic.1775315117

Stakeholder perceptions in organizational crisis management: exploring alternative configurations

[EN] Crises are socially constructed. Affected stakeholders of an organizational crisis conceive complex associations between their perceptions of the implicated company's response and about the company itself. The study moves away from a simple cause-effect view by deriving alternative configurations of these associations. This approach allows for a better understanding of how stakeholders attribute responsibility for a critical event and the resulting crisis faced by the company that caused it. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we analyze insights of 325 families affected by an environmental incident in 2018 involving Colombia's largest company. We establish a correlation between stakeholders' perceptions of crisis response timeliness and credibility. Accordingly, we expand on how perceptions affect organizational judgments. Finally, we propose that trustworthiness and reputation are antecedents to how organizational crisis response is perceived and how these antecedents affect the degree of the severity of the company crisis.Contreras-Pacheco, OE.; Claasen, C.; Garrigós Simón, FJ. (2022). Stakeholder perceptions in organizational crisis management: exploring alternative configurations. Journal of Management & Organization. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2022.5512