The mediating role of organizational legitimacy in resource-based models of firm performance.

摘要

Previous work has shown that external legitimacy processes more prominently underlie the liability of newness than internal coordination processes (Singh, Tucker, House, 1986). However, subsequent entrepreneurship research has not reflected this fording in terms of proportionally larger interest in the effects of institutionalization factors.; A central problem of research on organizational legitimacy is the lack of well-developed theories that would help define organizational legitimacy and its relationships with other constructs. There seems to be a growing consensus that legitimacy issues are particularly important for new or young ventures' success and survival (Stinchcombe, 1965; Singh, Tucker & House, 1986; Aldrich & Fiol, 1994; Deeds, Mang & Frandsen, 1999); however, a specific role of organizational legitimacy in firm performance models has not been explored.; Organizational legitimacy is defined as the acceptance of an organization by its environment. This acceptance is vital for organizational survival and success (Kostova and Zaheer, 1999). Based on scattered pieces of previous research involving legitimacy, capabilities and performance, this dissertation examined the mediating role of organizational legitimacy between organizational capabilities and firm performance, as well as the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty.; The model was examined in the sample of 447 emerging Internet companies that became publicly traded on NASDAQ in the period 1996 to 2001. Organizational legitimacy has a strong and positive effect on firm performance and survival. The mediating model showed good fit to the data. Organizational legitimacy was found to be a partial mediator of the capabilities-performance relationship. Environmental uncertainty moderated the legitimacy-performance relationship, as well as one of the capabilities-performance relationships. The study provided initial support for evolutionary processes that underlie the introduction of new organizational forms. Various stages of organizational form evolution were characterized by differing levels of organizational legitimacy and environmental uncertainty, as well as by different marginal effects of legitimacy on performance.