Management Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Management Theses and Dissertations by Author "Awad, Mohamed Hassan Ahmed"

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    The Legitimation of Proto-institutions Among Multiple Stakeholder Communities: A Two-Phase Process Model.
    (University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Awad, Mohamed Hassan Ahmed; Nelson, Andrew
    New social entities are critically in need of different types of resources in order to survive and diffuse. In order to access these resources, a new social entity needs to be deemed legitimate by the multiple stakeholder communities who control these resources. The criteria upon which a social entity is evaluated are likely to vary among the different stakeholders, possibly leading to conflict and uncertainty. Existing research has focused on the efforts of a focal actor in legitimating a social entity. However, little research has investigated the contestations between the different stakeholder communities around the social entity and how these dynamics could shape the legitimation process. In this study, I employ a distributed and inclusive analytical approach to uncover the process through which a new social entity is contested and legitimated among multiple stakeholder communities simultaneously. I investigate three local solutions that emerged in the city of Eugene, Oregon to alleviate the issue of homelessness. I employ an inductive approach with grounded theory analysis to induce a two-phase legitimation model for proto-institutions. The model hinges on the role of issue interpretation and contestation between issue narratives. This study contributes to the growing literature on institutional complexity and issue fields through capturing the complexity of legitimation as it unfolds in a changing field, between multiple stakeholder communities with shifting criteria of legitimacy.