Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Codes of Ethics and the Pursuit of Organizational Legitimacy: Theoretical and Empirical Contributions

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to further a discussion of codes of ethics as institutionalized organizational structures that extend some form of legitimacy to organizations. The particular form of legitimacy is of critical importance to our analysis. After reviewing various theories of legitimacy, we analyze the literature on how legitimacy is derived from codes of ethics to discover which specific form of legitimacy is gained from their presence in organizations. We content analyze a sample of codes to consider the question of whether a strategic, self-interested rationale lies behind the adoption of a code of ethics. We propose that the process of employing codes of ethics in this strategic manner has become, through isomorphism, an institutionalized practice that itself confers a cognitive form of legitimacy to the organization and further distances the codes from their moral foundation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • 2005, ‚Doing it Right: The TOP 101 Companies of Atlantic Canada Ranked by Revenue’, Progress 12(7), 113–126

  • Abbott A.: 1988, The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labour. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Academy of Management: 2006, ‚Code of Ethics Program Comparison’, available at www.aomonline.org/aom.asp?ID = 257&page_ID = 242

  • Anand V., Ashforth B. E., Joshi M.: 2005, Business as Usual: The Acceptance and Perpetuation of Corruption in Organizations. The Academy of Management Executive 19(4), 9–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashforth B. E., Gibbs B. W.: 1990, The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation. Organization Science 1, 177–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Astley W. G., Van de Ven A. H.: 1983, Central Perspectives and Debates in Organization Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly 28, 245–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer M. W.: 2000, Classical Content Analysis: A Review”. In M. W. Bauer, G. Gaskell (eds.), Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: A Practical Handbook. Sage Publications, London, pp. 131–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger P., Luckmann T.: 1966, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Doubleday and Company, Garden City, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Boiral O.: 2003, The Certification of Corporate Conduct: Issues and Prospects. International Labour Review 142(3), 317–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrell G., Morgan G.: 1979, Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life. Heinemann, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dacin M. T.: 1997, Isomorphism in Context: The Power and Prescription of Institutional Norms. Academy of Management Journal 40(1), 46–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daft R. L., Weick K. E.: 1984, Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems. Academy of Management Review 9(2), 284–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deephouse D. L., Carter S.: 2005, An Examination of Differences between Organizational Legitimacy and Organizational Reputation. The Journal of Management Studies 42(2), 329–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio P.: 1988, Interest and Agency in Institutional Theory. In L. Zucker (ed.), Institutional Patterns and Organizations: Culture and Environment. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, MA, pp. 3–21

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio P., Powell W.: 1983, The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48(2), 147–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson T.: 1983, Constructing a Social Contract for Business. In T. Donaldson, P. Werhane (eds.), Ethical Issues in Business. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 153–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling J. B., Pfeffer J.: 1975, Organizational Legitimation. Pacific Sociological Review 18(1), 122–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Elsbach J. M., Sutton R. I.: 1992, Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy through Illegitimate Actions: A Marriage of Institutional and Impression Management Theories. Academy of Management Journal 35(4), 699–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough N.: 1992, Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Fogarty T. J.: 1995, Accountant Ethics: A Brief Examination of Neglected Sociological Dimensions. Journal of Business Ethics 14(2), 103–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glynn M. A., Azbug R.: 2002, Institutionalizing Identity: Symbolic Isomorphism and Organizational Names. Academy of Management Journal 45(1), 267–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guthrie J., Petty R., Yongvanich K., Ricceri F.: 2004, Using Content Analysis as a Research Method to Inquire into Intellectual Capital Reporting. Journal of Intellectual Capital 5(2), 282–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson P., Smith K.: 1999, Contextualizing Business Ethics: Anomie and Social Life. Human Relations 52(11), 1351–1376

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaptein M.: 2004, Business Codes of Multinational Firms: What Do They Say?. Journal of Business Ethics 50(1), 13–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly M.: 2005, The Ethics Revolution. Business Ethics 19(2), 6

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay R. M., Lindsay L. M., Irvine B.: 1996, Instilling Ethical Behaviour in Organizations: A Survey of Canadian Companies. Journal of Business Ethics 15(4), 393–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer J. W., Rowan B.: 1977, Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, 340–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neilson E. H., Rao M. V. H.: 1987, The Strategy-Legitimacy Nexus: A Thick Description. Academy of Management Review 15, 523–533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nystrom, P. and W. Starbuck: 1984, ‚Organizational Facades’, Proceedings of the Academy of Management Conference, Boston, MA, pp. 182–186

  • O’Donovan G.: 2002, Environmental Disclosures in the Annual Report: Extending the Applicability and Predictive Power of Legitimacy Theory. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3), 344–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver C.: 1991, Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes. Academy of Management Review 16, 145–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer J., Salancik G. R.: 1978, The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. Harper and Row, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston A. M., Cooper D. J., Scarbrough D. P., Chilton R. C.: 1995, Changes in the Code of Ethics of the U.S. Accounting Profession, 1917 and 1998: The Continual Quest for Legitimation. Accounting, Organizations and Society 20(6), 507–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacconi L.: 1999, Codes of Ethics as Contractarian Constraints on the Abuse of Authority within Hierarchies: A Perspective from the Theory of the Firm. Journal of Business Ethics 21(2/3), 189–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz M.: 2002, A Code of Ethics for Corporate Code of Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 41(1/2), 27–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz M.: 2004, Effective Corporate Codes of Ethics: Perceptions of Code Users. Journal of Business Ethics 55(4), 323–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott R.: 1995, Institutions and Organizations. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • SEDAR: n.d., available at www.sedar.com/homepage_en.htm

  • Selznick P.: 1966, TVA and the Grassroots: A Study in the Sociology of Formal Organization. Harper and Row, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman D.: 1970, The Theory of Organizations. Basic Books, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Suchman M.: 1995, Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches. Academy of Management Review 20, 571–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolbert P. S., Zucker L.: 1983, Institutional Sources of Change in the Formal Structure of Organizations: The Diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880–1935. Administrative Science Quarterly 28(1), 22–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren R.: 2003, The Evolution of Business Legitimacy. European Business Review 15(3), 153–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wartick S. L., Cochran P. L.: 1985, The Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance Model. Academy of Management Review 10, 758–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver G. R., Trevino L. K., Cochran P. L.: 1999, Corporate Ethics Programs as Control Systems: Influences of Executive Commitment and Environmental Factors. Academy of Management Journal 42(1), 41–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M.: 1956, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Vol. 1 (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) 1978 printing

  • Weber R. P.: 1990, Basic Content Analysis. 2. Sage, Newbury Park, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood D. J.: 1991, Corporate Social Performance Revisited. Academy of Management Review 16, 691–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker L.: 1988, Where Do Institutional Patterns Come From? Organizations as Actors in Social Systems. In L. Zucker (ed.), Institutional Patterns and Organizations: Culture and Environment. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, MA, pp. 23–49

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive efforts to improve this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, St. Francis Xavier University, P.O. Box 5000, Antigonish, N.S., Canada, B2G 2W5

    Brad S. Long

  2. Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie St, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H3C3

    Cathy Driscoll

Authors
  1. Brad S. Long
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cathy Driscoll
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brad S. Long.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Long, B.S., Driscoll, C. Codes of Ethics and the Pursuit of Organizational Legitimacy: Theoretical and Empirical Contributions. J Bus Ethics 77, 173–189 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9307-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9307-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation