Abstract: Legitimacy theory is one of the most discussed theories to explain the phenomenon of voluntary social and environmental
disclosures in corporate communication. Consistent with the notion of legitimacy theory, companies seek to gain, maintain or repair
their legitimacy by using social and environmental reporting. Legitimacy theory may provide useful insights for corporate social and
environmental disclosures. However, there are a number of gaps in the literature dealing with legitimacy theory, which have not been
addressed, such as the development of a general framework of legitimacy theory. The paper is mainly concerned with reviewing the
literature of legitimacy theory in an attempt to identify the necessary characteristics of this theory. There is a lack of research into
framework of legitimacy theory. The paper is mainly concerned with a bringing some coherence to the framework of legitimacy
theory and corporate environmental practices. The understanding of the nature of such theory can help in explaining corporate
environmental practices.
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