Ethical Considerations of the Legitimacy Lie

This article draws upon prior research and theory on the legitimacy threshold that suggests entrepreneurs in start–up ventures will likely employ proactive strategies to gain initial legitimacy with key stakeholders. We argue that these strategies may sometimes include questionable ethical behaviors...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEntrepreneurship theory and practice Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 949 - 964
Main Authors Rutherford, Matthew W., Buller, Paul F., Stebbins, J. Michael
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.07.2009
SAGE Publications
Sage Publications, Inc
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Analysis
Behavior
Business ethics
Businesspeople
Decision making
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Ethics
Legitimacy
Legitimacy of governments
Management
Organizational behavior
Startups
Statistical analysis
Studies
United States
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Summary:This article draws upon prior research and theory on the legitimacy threshold that suggests entrepreneurs in start–up ventures will likely employ proactive strategies to gain initial legitimacy with key stakeholders. We argue that these strategies may sometimes include questionable ethical behaviors, including telling legitimacy lies—intentional misrepresentations of the facts. Based on a review of literature on ethical decision making, we then apply two common ethical frameworks to explore the ethical boundaries of what may or may not be acceptable behavior in seeking legitimacy. We conclude the article with some specific guidelines for start–up entrepreneurs.
Bibliography:istex:4EC08B17EC45F1DB8540CB21D01D0E307A4E9EE6
ark:/67375/WNG-D86B21XH-B
ArticleID:ETAP310
ISSN:1042-2587
1540-6520
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00310.x