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Public Relations and Business Legitimacy

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Handbook of Business Legitimacy

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Abstract

The vast field of public relations contains multiple theoretical, methodical, and conceptual approaches, with research spanning such disciplines as sociology, ethics, linguistics, communication studies, behavioral psychology, management theory, and many more. Upon giving an introductory overview of main developments in the field with a specific focus on the concept of business legitimacy, this chapter proposes to follow a specific path promising fruitful insights for the student, practitioner, or researcher with an interest in business legitimacy. It is argued that the two-way symmetry model of excellence benefits from being theoretically informed by a Habermasian perspective on publicity and communication when dealing specifically with issues of pragmatic, moral, and cognitive forms of legitimacy. Taking such theoretical bearings, the chapter ultimately presents a contemporary case study exemplary of a prototypical business legitimacy issue.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Niels Møller Nielsen

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  1. Niels Møller Nielsen
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Correspondence to Niels Møller Nielsen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Jacob Dahl Rendtorff

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Nielsen, N.M. (2020). Public Relations and Business Legitimacy. In: Rendtorff, J.D. (eds) Handbook of Business Legitimacy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14622-1_3

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