IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v55y2018i3p486-516.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Legitimacy of Inequality: Integrating the Perspectives of System Justification and Social Judgment

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Haack
  • Jost Sieweke

Abstract

To explain the legitimation of inequality among the members of a social system, we blend system justification theory and the theory of social judgment. We identify adaptation and replacement as two major mechanisms of inequality legitimation and examine their influence in the unique setting of a natural experiment, the reunification of socialist East Germany and capitalist West Germany. We show that the new members of a society in which inequality is broadly endorsed and perceived as enduring will adapt to this perception and come to view inequality as acceptable. This process of adaptation reflects the subtle but powerful influence of collective legitimacy on an individual's tacit approval of inequality. Inequality also becomes legitimate as older cohorts are replaced by younger cohorts; however, this effect is weaker than the effect of adaptation. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating that developing and testing a theory of how inequality becomes legitimized can provide new insights into the ideational antecedents of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Haack & Jost Sieweke, 2018. "The Legitimacy of Inequality: Integrating the Perspectives of System Justification and Social Judgment," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 486-516, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:55:y:2018:i:3:p:486-516
    DOI: 10.1111/joms.12323
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12323
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joms.12323?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hari Bapuji & Snehanjali Chrispal, 2020. "Understanding Economic Inequality Through the Lens of Caste," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 533-551, March.
    2. Gro Kvåle & Zuzana Murdoch, 2022. "Shame On You! Unpacking the Individual and Organizational Implications of Engaging with a Stigmatized Organization," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(8), pages 2024-2066, December.
    3. Nancy DiTomaso, 2021. "Why Difference Makes a Difference: Diversity, Inequality, and Institutionalization," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(8), pages 2024-2051, December.
    4. Sabrina Tanquerel & Marc Grau-Grau, 2020. "Unmasking work-family balance barriers and strategies among working fathers in the workplace," Post-Print hal-02945399, HAL.
    5. Sonia S. Siraz & Björn Claes & Julio O. De Castro & Eero Vaara, 2023. "Theorizing the Grey Area between Legitimacy and Illegitimacy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 924-962, June.
    6. Jianhong Zhang & David L. Deephouse & Désirée van Gorp & Haico Ebbers, 2022. "Individuals’ Perceptions of the Legitimacy of Emerging Market Multinationals: Ethical Foundations and Construct Validation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 801-825, April.
    7. Alexander C. Lewis & Arkangel M. Cordero & Rachael Xiong, 2021. "Too Red for Crowdfunding: The Legitimation and Adoption of Crowdfunding Across Political Cultures," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(3), pages 471-504, May.
    8. Nite, Calvin & Nauright, John, 2020. "Examining institutional work that perpetuates abuse in sport organizations," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 117-129.
    9. Christopher Wickert & Corinne Post & Jonathan P. Doh & John E. Prescott & Andrea Prencipe, 2021. "Management Research that Makes a Difference: Broadening the Meaning of Impact," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 297-320, March.
    10. Jasinenko, Anna & Christandl, Fabian & Meynhardt, Timo, 2020. "Justified by ideology: Why conservatives care less about corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 290-303.
    11. Riccardo Rodella & Maria Rosa De Giacomo, 2023. "How do financial markets reward companies tackling climate change concerns? A natural experiment based on the Brexit referendum," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 979-990, March.
    12. Patrick Haack & Oliver Schilke & Lynne Zucker, 2021. "Legitimacy Revisited: Disentangling Propriety, Validity, and Consensus," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 749-781, May.
    13. Ali Alamdar Moghaddam & Hamid Mirzahossein & Robert Guzik, 2022. "Comparing Inequality in Future Urban Transport Modes by Doughnut Economy Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-24, November.
    14. Summerville, Karoline M. & Chen, Victor Zitian & Shoham, Amir & Taras, Vasyl, 2024. "Speaking of diversity: Can linguistic structural differences explain cultural values toward equity, diversity, and inclusion across the globe?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(1).
    15. Kamal A. Munir, 2021. "Inequality in the Time of Corona Virus," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 607-610, March.
    16. Corinne Post & Daniel Muzio & Riikka Sarala & Liqun Wei & Dries Faems, 2021. "Theorizing Diversity in Management Studies: New Perspectives and Future Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(8), pages 2003-2023, December.
    17. Francisco Díez-Martín & Alicia Blanco-González & Camilo Prado-Román, 2021. "The intellectual structure of organizational legitimacy research: a co-citation analysis in business journals," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1007-1043, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:55:y:2018:i:3:p:486-516. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.