Law Commons^™

Public Independent Fact-Finding: A Trust-Generating Institution For An Age Of Corporate Illegitimacy And Public Mistrust, R. William Ide Iii, Douglas H. Yarn

Vanderbilt Law Review

Public distrust in the wake of corporate scandals caused corporate legitimacy crises for the companies involved and for the marketplace as a whole. The loss of trust has contributed to an environment in which traditional responses to allegations of wrongdoing and incompetence are less effective. Alternatively, organizations engage in "Public independent fact-finding" ("PIFF") by hiring public figures with reputations for integrity to conduct internal investigations and to report their findings to the public. This Article describes the role played by trust, reputation, and social legitimacy in the health of organizations and examines corporate legitimacy crises and traditional responses. Identifying factors …