IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i2p21582440231172953.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Achieving Legitimacy Through Gender Equality Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia Blanco-González
  • Francisco Díez-Martín
  • Giorgia Miotto

Abstract

The academic literature has shown some positive effects of gender equality policies’ development on the companies’ performance. However, often companies are not promoting this type of policies. This research analyzes the effect of corporate gender equality policies from an institutional perspective. Using a structural equation model, based on 150 questionnaires, the results have empirically demonstrated that gender equality policies positively influence four dimensions of organizational legitimacy: pragmatic, moral, regulatory, and cognitive. These results extend our knowledge of the effect of corporate social responsibility policies on organizational legitimacy, underlying that gender equality strategies are very useful for improving organizational legitimacy. Furthermore, these results provide new strategic arguments for managers to manage the organizational change and to develop gender equality policies and foster the decrease of the gender gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia Blanco-González & Francisco Díez-Martín & Giorgia Miotto, 2023. "Achieving Legitimacy Through Gender Equality Policies," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:21582440231172953
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231172953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231172953
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231172953?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ernest Gyapong & Reza M. Monem & Fang Hu, 2016. "Do Women and Ethnic Minority Directors Influence Firm Value? Evidence from Post-Apartheid South Africa," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3-4), pages 370-413, March.
    2. Sugandha Verma, 2020. "Examining the New Dimensions of Career Advancement of Women Employees," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(3), pages 869-881, June.
    3. David Finch & David Deephouse & Paul Varella, 2015. "Examining an Individual’s Legitimacy Judgment Using the Value–Attitude System: The Role of Environmental and Economic Values and Source Credibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 265-281, March.
    4. Tanses Gülsoy & Ayfer Ustabaş, 2019. "Corporate Sustainability Initiatives in Gender Equality: Organizational Practices Fostering Inclusiveness at Work in an Emerging-Market Context," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(04), pages 1-34, June.
    5. Xiaoping He & Shuo Jiang, 2019. "Does gender diversity matter for green innovation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(7), pages 1341-1356, November.
    6. Cesar Saenz, 2019. "Building legitimacy and trust between a mining company and a community to earn social license to operate: A Peruvian case study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 296-306, March.
    7. Benjamin Cashore & Jette Steen Knudsen & Jeremy Moon & Hamish van der Ven, 2021. "Private authority and public policy interactions in global context: Governance spheres for problem solving," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1166-1182, October.
    8. Khaldoun AbouAssi & Seung-Ho An, 2017. "Gender representation and organizational size: examining opportunities for members’ involvement in membership organizations," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(10), pages 1437-1454, November.
    9. Díez-Martín, Francisco & Miotto, Giorgia & Cachón-Rodríguez, Gabriel, 2022. "Organizational legitimacy perception: Gender and uncertainty as bias for evaluation criteria," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 426-436.
    10. Brian G. Nagy & Jeffrey M. Pollack & Matthew W. Rutherford & Franz T. Lohrke, 2012. "The Influence of Entrepreneurs’ Credentials and Impression Management Behaviors on Perceptions of New Venture Legitimacy," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(5), pages 941-965, September.
    11. M. Tina Dacin & Christine Oliver & Jean‐Paul Roy, 2007. "The legitimacy of strategic alliances: an institutional perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 169-187, February.
    12. Kevin Campbell & Antonio Minguez Vera, 2010. "Female board appointments and firm valuation: short and long-term effects," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 14(1), pages 37-59, February.
    13. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    14. Kyaw, Khine & Olugbode, Mojisola & Petracci, Barbara, 2015. "Does gender diverse board mean less earnings management?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 135-141.
    15. Magalie Marais, 2012. "CEO rhetorical strategies for corporate social responsibility (CSR)," Post-Print hal-02523052, HAL.
    16. Eshani Beddewela & Jenny Fairbrass, 2016. "Seeking Legitimacy Through CSR: Institutional Pressures and Corporate Responses of Multinationals in Sri Lanka," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 503-522, July.
    17. Guido Palazzo & Andreas Scherer, 2006. "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 71-88, June.
    18. Muzhar Javed & Muhammad Amir Rashid & Ghulam Hussain & Hafiz Yasir Ali, 2020. "The effects of corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation and firm financial performance: Moderating role of responsible leadership," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1395-1409, May.
    19. Nicola Cucari & Salvatore Esposito De Falco & Beatrice Orlando, 2018. "Diversity of Board of Directors and Environmental Social Governance: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 250-266, May.
    20. Anna Lamin & Srilata Zaheer, 2012. "Wall Street vs. Main Street: Firm Strategies for Defending Legitimacy and Their Impact on Different Stakeholders," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 47-66, February.
    21. Rajesh Kumar & T. K. Das, 2007. "Interpartner Legitimacy in the Alliance Development Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1425-1453, December.
    22. Wafa N. Almobaireek & Ahmed A. Alshumaimeri & Tatiana S. Manolova, 2016. "Building entrepreneurial inter-firm networks in an emerging economy: the role of cognitive legitimacy," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 87-114, March.
    23. Baoliang Hu & Tao Zhang & Shuai Yan, 2020. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Influences Business Model Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Legitimacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.
    24. Giorgia Miotto & Marc Polo López & Josep Rom Rodríguez, 2019. "Gender Equality and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Priorities and Correlations in the Top Business Schools’ Communication and Legitimation Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    25. Cristina Cruz & Rachida Justo & Martín Larraza-Kintana & Lucía Garcés-Galdeano, 2019. "When Do Women Make a Better Table? Examining the Influence of Women Directors on Family Firm’s Corporate Social Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(2), pages 282-301, March.
    26. Masaki Kusano & Masatsugu Sanada, 2019. "Crisis and organizational change: IASB’s response to the financial crisis," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(2), pages 278-301, May.
    27. Xuan Bai & Jeanine Chang & Julie Juan Li, 2019. "How Do International Joint Ventures Build Legitimacy Effectively in Emerging Economies? CSR, Political Ties, or Both?," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 387-412, June.
    28. Nikolas Rathert, 2016. "Strategies of legitimation: MNEs and the adoption of CSR in response to host-country institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(7), pages 858-879, September.
    29. Leon Windscheid & Lynn Bowes-Sperry & Karsten Jonsen & Michèle Morner, 2018. "Managing Organizational Gender Diversity Images: A Content Analysis of German Corporate Websites," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 997-1013, November.
    30. Strohmeyer, Robert & Tonoyan, Vartuhi & Jennings, Jennifer E., 2017. "Jacks-(and Jills)-of-all-trades: On whether, how and why gender influences firm innovativeness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 498-518.
    31. María del Carmen Valls Martínez & Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Isabel María Parra Oller, 2019. "Gender policies on board of directors and sustainable development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1539-1553, November.
    32. Duff, Angus, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as a legitimacy maintenance strategy in the professional accountancy firm," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 513-531.
    33. Lee, Yoon-Joo & Yoon, Hye Jin & O'Donnell, Nicole H., 2018. "The effects of information cues on perceived legitimacy of companies that promote corporate social responsibility initiatives on social networking sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 202-214.
    34. Katia Furlotti & Tatiana Mazza & Veronica Tibiletti & Silvia Triani, 2019. "Women in top positions on boards of directors: Gender policies disclosed in Italian sustainability reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 57-70, January.
    35. Maruyama, Masayoshi & Wu, Lihui, 2015. "Overcoming the Liability of Foreignness in International Retailing: A Consumer Perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 200-210.
    36. Jawad Syed, 2008. "A context-specific perspective of equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 135-151, January.
    37. Jee Young Chung & Bruce K. Berger & Jamie DeCoster, 2016. "Developing Measurement Scales of Organizational and Issue Legitimacy: A Case of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 405-413, August.
    38. Zheng, Qinqin & Luo, Yadong & Maksimov, Vladislav, 2015. "Achieving legitimacy through corporate social responsibility: The case of emerging economy firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 389-403.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Díez-Martín, Francisco & Miotto, Giorgia & Cachón-Rodríguez, Gabriel, 2022. "Organizational legitimacy perception: Gender and uncertainty as bias for evaluation criteria," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 426-436.
    2. Yuan-Shuh Lii & May-Ching Ding & Chih-Huang Lin, 2018. "Fair or Unfair: The Moderating Effect of Sustainable CSR Practices on Anticipatory Justice Following Service Failure Recovery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    3. James M. Bloodgood & Jeffrey S. Hornsby & Matthew Rutherford & Richard G. McFarland, 2017. "The role of network density and betweenness centrality in diffusing new venture legitimacy: an epidemiological approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 525-552, June.
    4. Qiaowen Zhang & Annalien de Vries, 2022. "Seeking Moral Legitimacy through Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Multinationals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Xiaojun Du & Fei Feng & Wei Lv, 2022. "Bibliometric Overview of Organizational Legitimacy Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    6. Blanco-González, Alicia & Cachón-Rodríguez, Gabriel & Hernández-Perlines, Felipe & Prado-Román, Camilo, 2023. "Effects of social responsibility on legitimacy and revisit intention: The moderating role of anxiety," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. James M. Bloodgood & Jeffrey S. Hornsby & Matthew Rutherford & Richard G. McFarland, 0. "The role of network density and betweenness centrality in diffusing new venture legitimacy: an epidemiological approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    8. Carri Reisdorf Tolmie & Kevin Lehnert & Hongxin Zhao, 2020. "Formal and informal institutional pressures on corporate social responsibility: A cross‐country analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 786-802, March.
    9. Miotto, Giorgia & Del-Castillo-Feito, Cristina & Blanco-González, Alicia, 2020. "Reputation and legitimacy: Key factors for Higher Education Institutions’ sustained competitive advantage," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 342-353.
    10. Nurlan Orazalin & Mady Baydauletov, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility strategy and corporate environmental and social performance: The moderating role of board gender diversity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1664-1676, July.
    11. Scherer, Andreas, 2013. "Legitimacy Strategies in a Globalized World: Organizing for Complex and Heterogeneous Environments," Papers 566, World Trade Institute.
    12. Giorgia Miotto & Marc Polo López & Josep Rom Rodríguez, 2019. "Gender Equality and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Priorities and Correlations in the Top Business Schools’ Communication and Legitimation Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    13. Lucy Sojung Lee & Weiguo Zhong, 2020. "Responses to alliance partners’ misbehavior and firm performance in China: the moderating roles of Guanxi orientation," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 344-378, July.
    14. Park, Kathleen Marshall & Meglio, Olimpia & Schriber, Svante, 2019. "Building a global corporate social responsibility program via mergers and acquisitions: A managerial framework," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 395-407.
    15. Shijiao Chen & Jing A. Zhang & Hongzhi Gao & Zhilin Yang & Damien Mather, 2022. "Trust Erosion During Industry-Wide Crises: The Central Role of Consumer Legitimacy Judgement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 95-116, January.
    16. Patrick Haack & Michael D. Pfarrer & Andreas Georg Scherer, 2014. "Legitimacy-as-Feeling: How Affect Leads to Vertical Legitimacy Spillovers in Transnational Governance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 634-666, June.
    17. Baoliang Hu & Tao Zhang & Shuai Yan, 2020. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Influences Business Model Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Legitimacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.
    18. Gastón de los Reyes & Markus Scholz, 2023. "Assessing the Legitimacy of Corporate Political Activity: Uber and the Quest for Responsible Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 51-69, April.
    19. Roger Leonard Burritt & Katherine Leanne Christ & Hussain Gulzar Rammal & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Multinational Enterprise Strategies for Addressing Sustainability: the Need for Consolidation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 389-410, June.
    20. Francesco Gangi & Lucia Michela Daniele & Eugenio D'Angelo & Nicola Varrone & Maria Coscia, 2023. "The impact of board gender diversity on banks' environmental policy: The moderating role of gender inequality in national culture," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1273-1291, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:21582440231172953. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.