Relationship between organizational capacity and legitimacy: mechanisms for the Mexican case

Abstract

The thesis contributes to the understanding of the relationship between organizational capacity and legitimacy. These are two sides of the coin of organizational survival. The main research question of the thesis is: Does organizational capacity explain the legitimacy of public organizations? If not, what mechanisms is it based on? The case under study is criminal policy in Mexico, which relates to the protective function of the State. The first article shows that there are different combinations of organizational capacity that can explain legitimacy. Service delivery is not among them. This means that the relationship between capacity and legitimacy is not as direct as the theories establish, but rather there are tensions between them. The remaining two articles analyze mechanisms that can explain organizational legitimacy and give evidence of alternative alliances between capacity and legitimacy. The second article analyzes the ability to communicate towards legitimacy. It shows that different strategies are used over time, and that some organizational limitations influence these strategies. The third article shows that policy transfer is another mechanism for legitimacy: even under uncertainty, organizations can make sufficiently legitimate decisions using simple cognitive mechanisms.