Strategic Repositioning under Institutional Uncertainty: NGO Strategies during the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Transposition Phase in the Netherlands
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2025-06-27
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en
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This master thesis investigates how and why NGOs in the Netherlands adapt their strategies during the transposition phase of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a period characterized by institutional uncertainty. Based on eight in-depth interviews and extensive document analysis, it is revealed how NGOs operate within a politically volatile playing field in which formal rules shift and legitimacy is under pressure. The study shows that NGOs are not passive norm followers, but strategic actors that proactively develop scenarios, recalibrate legitimacy and mobilize coalitions to maintain influence. These strategies emerge: defensive adjustment and scenario thinking, legitimacy management, and intensive policy advocacy via coordinated networks. In doing so, NGOs increasingly adopt hybrid roles depending on the institutional force field and the form of legitimacy that is decisive at that moment. This strategic role hybridization enables NGOs to navigate flexibly within a polycentric governance field in which diverse normative expectations converge. The research contributes to the refinement of theory formation on institutional work and strategic response models and offers practical tools for effective positioning under institutional uncertainty.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen