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The research aims to show that validation and legitimisation of an information systems (IS) project need to be treated simultaneously to improve software project management. A starting assumption is that traditional aspects of model validity and legitimisation in operational research can be applicable to the field of IS. However, non‐traditional types of IS are more suitable to be viewed from an interpretive viewpoint. Validation is explored both from hard systems and also from soft systems point of view. Some extensions on the notion of validation for soft systems are provided for that purpose. Issues regarding both validation and legitimisation in IS are illustrated on a case study regarding the management of an academic research management IS project. Issues related both validation and legitimisation in IS are illustrated on a case study regarding the management of an academic research IS project. The latter had eventually to be abandoned. The case study shows how the non‐adherence to the principles of validation and legitimisation lead to that situation.

Digital servitization research has focused on how manufacturing firms use digital technologies to change business models and offer smart services; less attention has been devoted to the degree to which external actors in the existing ecosystem accept these smart services. Therefore, the authors pose the following research question: How does a manufacturing firm introduce and gain acceptance of new smart services within an established ecosystem?

Building on servitization, ecosystem and legitimacy theories, this paper addresses the research question through an in-depth case study of a world-leading original equipment manufacturer that is currently developing and introducing new smart services in its existing ecosystem.

The findings suggest that external actors emphasize different types of legitimacy in deciding whether to accept a new smart service. The findings also show that the type of legitimacy required to gain acceptance changes throughout the development of the smart service, from the definition of the value proposition to the design and delivery of the service.

This study can assist smart service providers in identifying which type of legitimacy is important for each ecosystem actor and strengthening these types of legitimacy to gain acceptance from the ecosystem.

This study develops a framework to help describe the thresholds for acceptance of a smart service through the development phases, as well as to indicate the types of legitimacy that smart service providers must relate to when seeking to gain acceptance for their new offering.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individuals respond to messages asking for donations in broadcast advertising. It does so by considering both preexisting attitudes and beliefs related to donating, as well as message processing. The goal is to uncover messages that may help nonprofit organisations increase donations.

The research combines the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to measure preexisting beliefs and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to measure involvement in an investigation of donation responses to broadcast-quality advertisements developed by a professional ad agency featuring the following two messages: one that leverages social norms and another that legitimises minimal giving. Two studies collected data from a total of 544 respondents in two between-subjects 2 × 2 × 2 experiments.

Injunctive norm messages affect the intended donation behaviour of individuals who are pre-disposed to donating, but only if they are highly involved with the ad. Social legitimisation messages affect donations from individuals who look to referents to direct behaviour, but unlike what was expected, only by those not highly involved with the ad. Similarly, individuals who do not think they can donate increased donations when they saw the legitimisation message and had low advertisement involvement.

Results extend the ELM-TPB integrated framework by discovering when and how involvement drives intended donation behaviour. The research also sheds light on message processing by focussing on the preexisting characteristics of recipients.

The results provide nonprofit managers with strategies to increase donations with targeted messages. Those who pay attention to the ad and have a positive attitude toward giving are going to donate if they are told others support the cause. Therefore, the focus should be on those who are not involved with the ad but still believe giving is appropriate.

This research is the first to use the ELM-TPB framework to discover that ELM has varying utilities and values from TPB in different ad contexts.

Increased developments in competition, globalisation and technology have led to an increased emphasis on innovation in organisations and academia. There is a substantial body of knowledge in regard to the concept of innovation. However, there is a need to make a distinction between innovation and the implementation of innovation in organisations. The study of innovation implementation is much less defined in regard to theory and practice. The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical conception of innovation implementation primarily based on a critique of the literature. The development is intended to inform further research and enable organisations to develop pathways for effective implementation.

A conceptual and integrated framework is developed from the literature. The constructs of normalising, legitimising and conflict are used to develop the theory.

It is shown how conflict or abrasion is a key element of innovation implementation in attempting to overcome normalising and legitimising organisational forces. Moreover, it is contended that conflict can be used to assess innovation implementation.

There is a paucity of theory building at multiple levels within organisations in relation to innovation implementation.

Billions of entrepreneurs at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) operate as small-scale producers within multi-tiered supply chain networks. Unfortunately, a majority of these entrepreneurs are simply unable to derive sufficient value from the network and are vulnerable to disasters and poverty. The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology that examines dynamic and triadic power relationships in order to create value chains for BoP producers.

This paper builds upon the available literature and a relevant historical case study to develop a typology. The validity of the typology is ascertained by examining and comparing two current BoP silk weaver communities in India.

The typology captures essential environmental variables and relates them to mediated and non-mediated forms of power which, in turn, shape the value derived from the supply chain network.

The typology provides specific recommendations for BoP producers, such as the formation of cooperatives, engaging in political unionization and ensuring that their social networks expand beyond local communities.

The typology brings together structuration theory and power and provides a framework for understanding supply value. This typology is generalizable to dynamic multi-tiered supply chain networks.

The study explores the use of professional investor relations (IR) practices in South African (SA) listed companies to understand which theories may be responsible for IR's adoption and growth in South Africa, an emerging economy. Therefore, this study evaluates shareholder value maximisation, stakeholder and legitimization theory and institutional isomorphism theory as possible theories to explain professional IR behaviour in SA listed companies.

The study design is qualitative and exploratory, based on a questionnaire developed and sent to all companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE).

The results indicate evidence of isomorphic spread to SA environments from practices observed in the UK and the USA, which we find are mostly performed to promote shareholder interests. The data suggest some evidence that the communication needs of black economic empowerment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investors are given priority, suggesting the utility of professional IR to obtain legitimisation from society. Contrary to expectation is that social media communication channels are not extensively used.

The descriptive nature of this study may be valuable to IR practitioners to improve SA IR practises, while neglected legitimisation opportunities with regard to the needs of ESG and black economic empowerment shareholders may be fruitfully addressed by practitioners.

This study innovates in its use of legitimisation theory and isomorphism theory to develop the study's expectations. Social problems provide contextual elements unique to SA which provides a good opportunity to test the expectation of legitimisation theory's influence on professional IR practices.

The purpose of this study is to examine how social disclosures by one of the world’s largest producers of Platinum Group Metals are used to maintain and repair legitimacy in the context of South Africa’s prevailing socio-economic conditions and in response to the immediate challenge to legitimacy posed by violent worker demonstrations taking place at its operations in Marikana during August 2012. This is done to highlight how legitimacy strategies take account of the temporal characteristics of a threat to legitimacy and how these, in turn, may constrain the need for far-reaching organisational change.

Suchman’s (1995) outline of legitimacy theory and Laughlin’s (1991) model of organisational change provide a frame of reference for a detailed thematic content analysis which identifies the use of different strategies by an organization to respond to threats to its credibility and how these impact, resulting changes to business philosophies, policies and systems.

The study highlights the temporal dimension of legitimisation strategies. Social-related disclosures provided by the case entity in response to labour unrest are aimed at addressing both the episodic and continual threat to legitimacy resulting from the unfavourable event. These also have the effect of limiting the extent of internal changes to select business policies and sub-systems. Carefully managing legitimacy allows the case entity to avoid the need to reformulate its business ethos.

The study deals only with a single case organisation. Although the emphasis is on highlighting themes and principles, results are not necessarily applicable in different contexts. Related to this, although the study deals with a major South African mining company, it does not prove the relevance of local cultural differences to the legitimisation process.

The study dispenses with the use of proxies, such as frequencies of disclosures, to demonstrate how organisations use non-financial reporting to secure legitimacy. Instead, it offers a detailed account of how different sub-sets of legitimacy are being mobilised in corporate reports response to long-term and episodic legitimacy considerations. In addition, the study offers one of the first interpretive accounts of how strategies used to manage legitimacy may constrain the potential of a material external shock resulting in internal organisational change. Finally, the study offers one of the first examples of the operation of legitimacy and organisational change theory from the African Continent.

This paper aims to explore the perception of successful entrepreneurs and resource providers regarding the minimum operational time necessary to legitimize an enterprise as an established company, as well as the tactics used by the entrepreneurs to minimize the distrust of society during this initial period of the life cycle of the organization.

Data collection from two groups: (i) interviews with 62 entrepreneurs and founders of established companies; and (ii) a questionnaire completed by 77 sales managers of companies that provide businesses with resources (they practice business-to-business). Regarding analyses: (i) to analyze information, this study applied the content analysis technique; and (ii) for data, this study applied the one-sample t-test, mean comparison t-test, Pearson’s correlation test, chi-square test of association, Mann–Whitney U test and correspondence analysis technique.

In this study, a period of 42 months was identified for the legitimization of enterprises by society, in other words, the time necessary for enterprises to be recognized as an established company and a company of low risk by customers and resource providers. A set of managerial and behavioral actions practiced by successful entrepreneurs to face the difficulties they experience during the legitimization period was also identified.

In addition to establishing a period of 42 months for the legitimization of an enterprise in the eyes of society, a set of 15 strategies used by successful entrepreneurs was identified to combat the prejudice associated with the youthfulness of their companies. Of these, 12 are linked to managerial actions and 3 to the entrepreneur’s behavior. It should be highlighted that eight of these strategies are innovative and have yet to be addressed in the literature on mitigating risks associated with the liability of newness principle.

The authors discuss the legitimization of enterprises based on the perception of actors who play a fundamental role regarding entrepreneurial action: resource providers for companies, customers and successful entrepreneurs. This is a triangulation of sources, as well as a triangulation of collected data and qualitative and quantitative techniques, which sought to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information that resulted from this analytical process.

In France, a religious congregation created the first ethical fund in 1983. By the end of the 1980s, only two ethical funds were operating. During the second half of the 1990s, the number of SRI funds rose rapidly – only 7 were available in 1997, by December 2001 this number had jumped to 42 and then to 137 by the end of 2007. In 2010, almost 300 SR funds were available. During the period from end of 2001 to end of 2010, the percentage of total French mutual fund capitalization represented by SRI funds climbed from 0.12% to nearly 1% (www.novethic.fr). Despite the fact that this total amount remains modest, still all retail networks are now offering such funds.

This paper aims to investigate the potential influence of managers on sustainability assurance. When the quality of sustainability reporting is questionable because of subsequent restatements, the authors explore whether assurance is used to enhance its credibility as a legitimization tool or as an impression management strategy. Additionally, the authors analyze how capital markets react to this potential managerial capture and, particularly, whether investors penalize this practice through the cost of capital.

Using an international sample from 2012 to 2016 and panel data regressions, this study relies on DICTION’s master variables of optimism and certainty to examine the impact of managers on assurance and the market’s reaction to these practices.

The study shows that some managers might use assurance as a legitimization tool rather than as a means of reinforcing the credibility of sustainability reporting. In such cases, the results reveal that investors penalize (reward) managerial influence (no influence) on assurance.

The new findings help companies understand that they will not improve their financing terms if investors perceive that managers have influenced assurance. Moreover, these findings emphasize the need for standardization to clarify assurance criteria and prevent managerial influence.

Managerial influence on assurance raises doubts about its value in terms of reducing information asymmetry and especially improving investors’ decision-making.

The present study represents the first evidence of the potential use of assurance for non-informative purposes. The authors provide clear evidence of how investors penalize managerial influence on assurance, in contrast to the mainstream literature, which shows that this practice always improves investors’ decision-making and is rewarded.