Understanding Legitimacy: A Scoping Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines recent research on legitimacy within the fields of management and entrepreneurship. It offers a detailed analysis of the current state of research, providing an up-to-date overview of international literature on the topic. Primarily, the study presents an approach to comprehensively grasp research by selecting, evaluating, and summarizing studies in the interconnected domains of management and entrepreneurship.
Study design/methodology/approach: A scoping review methodology has been employed.
Sample and data: To achieve these objectives, the scoping review covers 41 articles published between 2001 and 2023, selected from databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, using rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: The analysis's results offer a comprehensive understanding of the legitimacy concept, highlighting the main research gaps and promising future avenues of research.
Originality/value: This research was specifically designed to identify limitations in the evidence base where little or no prior research exists.
Research limitations/implications: This study highlights several key implications and limitations. It identifies gaps in legitimacy research, offering a theoretical contribution by pinpointing underexplored areas. The scoping review summarizes the current research landscape, helping guide future studies. Practically, it synthesizes findings and offers insights for policymakers and practitioners. A key limitation is the potential omission of relevant studies due to database selection, time constraints, and language barriers. Another limitation concerns balancing broad topic coverage with in-depth analysis.