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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Christopher L. Pallas

Selected Works

2015

Development

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Do The Right Thing: The Impact Of Ingo Legitimacy Standards On Stakeholder Input, Christopher Pallas, David Gethings, Max Harris Jul 2015

Do The Right Thing: The Impact Of Ingo Legitimacy Standards On Stakeholder Input, Christopher Pallas, David Gethings, Max Harris

Christopher L. Pallas

International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) are frequently criticized for failing to adequately represent or engage with grassroots stakeholders. Yet most explanations of this shortcoming have focused on factors external to the organizations, e.g., economic pressures that privilege donor interests. What has been largely lacking is an examination of the role of internal INGO characteristics. We address this by examining INGOs’ legitimacy standards: how INGOs understand themselves to be doing the right thing and seek to convey that righteousness to others. Drawing on the literature from business ethics and organizational behavior, we show that organizations’ self-selected standards of legitimacy are key drivers …