Legitimation through Action The Influence of Perceived Legitimacy Loss, Individual Factors and Internationalization on Anti-Corruption Measures – A Moderated Regression Analysis
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2025-07-02
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
This master's thesis examines the extent to which individually perceived losses of organizational legitimacy influence decision-makers' willingness to implement anti-corruption measures (ACMs). Building on legitimacy theory, in particular the micro-based perspective, a theoretical model is developed that takes into account personal influencing factors such as gender, professional experience, tolerance of uncertainty and internationality as moderating variables. The empirical analysis is based on a quantitative online survey of employees from the construction industry in North Rhine-Westphalia. A moderated regression analysis with SPSS was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results confirm a significant positive relationship between perceived legitimacy losses and the implementation of ACMs, while the examined moderator variables did not show any significant interaction effects. In addition, a significant direct effect was found for uncertainty tolerance as well as internationalization status. The results underscore the relevance of individual perceptions for legitimacy-related decision-making processes and provide theoretical and practical implications for governance practice. In particular, it becomes clear that not only external expectations, but also the personal factors of decision-makers determine whether and how organizations respond to threats to their legitimacy.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen