Producing leadership legitimacy in civil society – A study of online presentations of leaders in Sweden

Bibliographic Data

ID12890805
AuthorsAnna Meeuwisse (0000-0003-1913-8993, Lund University), Roberto Scaramuzzino (0000-0001-6072-6928, Lund University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume19
Issue2
Pages212-231
Publication date2023-04-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Civil Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-8689 • E-ISSN: 1744-8697
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17448689.2023.2206147
OpenAlexW4382626856
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited34

This article investigates how Swedish civil society organizations (CSOs) legitimize their leaders through online press releases presenting newly elected or recruited leaders, and which leadership ideals that are reproduced. The aim is to analyze how leaders are socially legitimized through leadership ideals in a time of increased demands on CSOs. The study moves away from the dominant perspective on leaders as actors contributing to the organizations, in favour of studying leaders as organizational assets whose image needs to be handled by the organizations. The article is based on a qualitative analysis of 54 online statements from Swedish peak CSOs, focusing on how the leaders are presented concerning personal characteristics, qualifications and missions. The results of the study indicate that Swedish CSO leaders are mainly legitimized with reference to traditional popular movement leadership ideals. Such ideals seem to serve as legitimators regardless of the type of organization. However, there are also legitimacy claims linked to managerial and administrative skills in line with third sector leadership ideals, suggesting potentially conflicting expectations on CSO leaders. These findings can be related to trends such as New Public Management, which push civil society actors to develop new skills and networks and to become more business-like

Civil society · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research

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