Legitimacy Theory: contributions and trends in Accounting based on recent literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/rcc.v15i3.89242Keywords:
Theory of Legitimacy. Accounting. Accounting Disclosure. Systematic Review.Abstract
Organizations seek strategies to legitimize themselves before their stakeholders, whether creating, maintaining, or repairing their corporate governance actions and practices. The study aims to identify the contributions and trends of research in accounting that used the Theory of Legitimacy as a theoretical basis. For this, a systematic literature review of scientific articles was carried out in the main national and international databases, considering the last six years (2016 to 2021). The results demonstrate the publication of sustainability reports and integrated reporting by companies as the main point of trend. Furthermore, the relationship between Legitimacy Theory and Institutional Theory, Agency Theory, Voluntary Disclosure Theory and Stakeholder Theory was observed in studies carried out in the accounting area. Among the approaches of the Theory of Legitimacy, studies with an approach to institutional and organizational legitimacy stand out, as well as the phases of acquisition, maintenance and repair of legitimacy can be highlighted as contributions and trends. In general, the research emphasizes the scope of the theory in relation to organizational values and good socio-environmental management practices.
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