Date
2004
Dewey
Direction d'entreprise
Sujet
Institutional entrepreneur; Social rating; Socially responsible investment; Institutional strategy; Measurement tools; Corporate social performance
JEL code
M1; M14; L9
Journal issue
Human Relations
Volume
57
Number
6
Publication date
2004
Article pages
741-764
Publisher
Tavistock Publications
Author
Déjean, Frédérique
Gond, Jean-Pascal
Leca, Bernard
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Abstract (EN)
The organizational literature on emerging industries has emphasized the need for institutional entrepreneurs - actors who give the new activity legitimacy and determine its patterns of behaviour. However, little empirical research has been carried out on the strategies that institutional entrepreneurs employ in order to achieve legitimacy for their activity. In this article, we suggest that an institutional entrepreneur can use the development of measurement tools as a strategy to develop its own legitimacy and power. By looking at a French entrepreneurial company’s development of tools to measure corporate social performance, we analyse how measurement tools influence the legitimacy of an industry and the systemic power within it. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for research into measurement tools in the areas of management or business and society.