Medición de la legitimidad organizativa: El caso de las Sociedades de Garantía Recíproca

In the attempt to understand an organizations’ survival and growth, legitimacy plays a key role. Organizations that show more credibility, convenience and adjustment to social norms, values and beliefs are more predictable, trustworthy and balanced. While institutional theory identifies legitimacy as a critical success factor that all organizations must consider, there is little empirical research in this field, essentially because of the hurdle of quantifying the concept of legitimacy. In this study we take a step forward in the effort of establishing a methodology for measuring organizational legitimacy. We have studied Spanish Mutual Guarantee Societies. We have evaluated their legitimacy and ranked them according to his criterion. Furthermore, we have analyzed the relative importance of the different aspects of legitimacy in MGS and established a legitimacy profile for the sector.