Stan Kaunda , David Pooe

Abstract

African managers and workers are impelled to work and operate in organisational settings that are essentially at odds with the cultural background and environ they emerge from. The duality of African manager’s lived lives heavily influences their perception of focal organisation’s legitimacy, and consequent behaviour. This conceptual paper is aimed at developing a framework for organisational legitimacy perception in the African setting. To this end, literature on organisational legitimacy, two-publics theory, and organisational categorisation is reviewed. The paper generates eleven key dimensions, drivers of organisational legitimacy perception among African managers. Crystallisation of the eleven dimensions leads to postulation of three key overarching dimensions of organisational legitimacy perception: presence, enforcement of human resource management policies, rules, regulations; presence, activation of organisational visions, core values; domestication of top management. Consequently, the paper proffers that organisations originating from a focal country and having specified ownership have the ultimate legitimacy perception among African managers. Conversely, organisations emanating from external countries and having diffuse ownership have diminutive legitimacy perception among African managers.