Legitimacy in the Workplace

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Legitimacy is critical for the effective performance of authorities in workplace settings. Legitimated authorities have secured support from their superiors and subordinates, who accept them as appropriate in their positions and are likely to comply with their requests. In contrast, authorities who are not legitimated are likely to be challenged, resisted, and scrutinized. This project addresses two questions: 1) How do authorities gain legitimacy? and 2) How can members of groups that have not typically held positions of authority gain legitimacy, necessary to ensure the productive and smooth operations of the organization? The hypotheses integrate knowledge about how fairness and power affect legitimacy, how trust is involved, and how status characteristics, i.e., personal attributes such as gender, may condition the process. These are tested in a series of three studies. Results will allow development of strategies for authorities, especially women, to ensure their legitimacy in the workplace, thereby improving the effectiveness of modern organizations. Hypotheses drawn from theories of procedural justice, resource-based power, and status processes are tested via two vignette experiments and one survey study, involving adult samples from the U.S. population. These studies build on a recently completed vignette study, using undergraduates, that manipulated an authority's use of procedural justice and benevolent power to examine their effects on perceptions of legitimacy. The first study replicates the completed vignette study with employed adults, taking into consideration characteristics of their work experience. A second vignette study manipulates the gender of the authority along with her or his behavior to examine what is required to ensure the legitimacy of female authorities. The third study surveys working adults about their own experiences with authorities in their organizations. Cumulative results from these studies will identify potential strategies for authorities, especially women, to ensure their legitimacy in the workplace. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.