How nascent community enterprises build legitimacy in internal and external environments

摘要

How nascent community enterprises build legitimacy in internal and external environments. Regional Studies. Community enterprises have become a widely used mechanism in addressing problems associated with socio-economic decline in rural areas. Using a legitimacy perspective, this paper explores how emerging community enterprises access resources needed to start and sustain their operations. Studying two music festivals that aim to improve the identity and economy of rural communities, three legitimation strategies emerge: conformance to the internal (rural community) environment; conformance to the external (cultural festival) environment; and changing the internal (rural community) environment. The legitimation process requires different legitimacy-building strategies within different environments, and community enterprises can benefit from differences in legitimacy judgements.