THE INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL LEGITIMACY OF BUSINESS PRACTICES THE CASE OF THE INTRODUCTION OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE FRENCH PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract

Since the birth of the stakeholder concept, firms are
accountable towards numerous internal and external
actors, and have to adapt themselves to technical
and moral changes that take place in their
environment. In this context, what are the internal
consequences of social legitimacy management
within companies? How do the organizations’
members legitimize the sometimes ambivalent
practices adopted by their company?
The study of the introduction of performance and
incentive management practices within three french
public organizations enables us to observe the intraorganizational legitimacy at work. The results put
forward a diversity and a variability of the different
types of legitimacy depending on the organization in
question, but a relative homogeneity regarding
individual’s characteristics. Moreover, the results
confirm that intra-organizational legitimacy is a real
management issue. Indeed, the way managers
introduce new HRM tools into specific
organizational contexts is more important than the
tools themselves.