Legitimacy and responsibility refers to organizations and their leaders. We are interested in how organizations gain and maintain legitimacy when they are confronted with changing requirements from society or deviate from broadly accepted paths. Leaders are not only expected to foster legitimacy but to show responsibility in the way they are designing, directing, and positioning an organization. We explore questions revolving around this responsibility, but also around its counterpart – i.e., misconduct. Against this background, we are conducting research on topics like corporate social responsibility, shareholder vs. stakeholder orientation, the adoption of institutionally contested practices, the phenomenon of social bubbles within elite networks, and corporate wrongdoing.
