PTBetween reputation and legitimacy
What makes a university look good — and what makes it look right? A study based on 362 responses from professors, explained in 14 screens.
Two sides of the same coin?
In everyday life, we call a school, a hospital or a company "respected" without separating two very different judgments.
Reputation answers "is this institution good?" It is a comparison: its past performance set side by side with that of its competitors.
Legitimacy answers "is this institution right?" It compares no one: it asks whether the institution acts in line with the norms, values and beliefs of its context.
They usually go together, but they are not the same thing. And the scientific literature itself often mixes them up.
click or drag the coin to flip it
Six ways to tell the two ideas apart
Pick an aspect and see how each concept answers.
Almost 80 years of articles, and only 3 compare the two concepts head-on
The researcher combed the Web of Science database for every management article that dealt with both topics. Hover over each layer of the funnel.
- 583
articles found with both terms, published between 1945 and 2023
- 190
dealt with the subject in some depth (the rest only mentioned the words)
- 152
were read and analyzed in depth
- 17
gave serious attention to both concepts at once
- 3
directly compared reputation and legitimacy
In most studies, one concept takes the lead and the other plays a supporting role, often with overlapping definitions.
97 definitions of reputation, 113 of legitimacy
Counting the words authors use most reveals two different vocabularies. The more often a word is used, the bigger it is and the further forward it sits. Hover over the words.
Definitions of reputation
Definitions of legitimacy
Five ways to link reputation and legitimacy
The review found five "archetypes" in the literature. There is no universal order: it depends on the sector and on who is doing the judging.
Choosing instead of scoring
If you ask people to rate each criterion from 1 to 5, almost everything ends up "very important". That is why the study used the PAPRIKA method: the professor sees two hypothetical institutions and picks the better one. After several rounds, the software calculates how much each criterion weighs.
Try it here. You are doing exactly what the professors did.
The layers of reputation
Each layer is a criterion; its thickness is the weight the professors gave it. Together they add up to 100%. Hover over (or tap) the layers and drag the tower to rotate it.
The layers of legitimacy
This time the question was different: what makes an institution accepted as right? The weights are more evenly spread, but one criterion stands out at the base.
Build an institution
Switch layers on and off by clicking the towers or the criteria, and see how much reputation and legitimacy the institution builds up, according to the weights the professors gave.
Reputation
Legitimacy
Illustrative simulation: each criterion switched "on" adds the average weight found in the thesis. The scenarios are hypothetical and are meant to explore the logic of the results.
Legitimacy comes first
The top-weighted criterion on each list tells the story:
In regulated sectors such as higher education, the thesis calls the relationship hierarchical complementarity: legitimacy is the foundation that lets an institution be recognized as a valid player in its field. Only then does reputation start to work as a differentiator.
With the base in place, reputation has something to stand on.
What gets talked about most came last
Inclusion and social responsibility takes up more and more space in sustainability reports and brand campaigns. Even so, of the seven legitimacy criteria, it received the lowest weight (11.5%).
This does not mean the topic is irrelevant. For the professors, it contributes indirectly, through other criteria. The risk the thesis points to is investing in outward-facing social initiatives before consolidating integrity and support for faculty work: the image gained outside does not turn into legitimacy at home.
What changes in practice
For institutional leaders
Before investing in rankings, marketing and visibility, consolidate integrity, transparency and consistency between what you say and what you do. Reputation without legitimacy creates an image the faculty themselves do not recognize, and that turns into disengagement.
For professors
The results show that faculty judge legitimacy in categorical terms: a practice is either acceptable or problematic, with no middle ground. A voice in decisions, research support and academic freedom all count here.
For students and families
Rankings and prestige tell the story of reputation. To judge legitimacy, it is worth asking other questions: does the institution do what it promises? Is it transparent? Does it treat its teachers well?
For other organizations
The literature reviewed points to the same logic in other regulated sectors, such as banks and hospitals: being "the best" only counts for those already accepted as right. In new sectors, the order may be reversed.
What this study does not say
- The professors surveyed work at private institutions in São Paulo and were recruited through academic networks and professional contacts. Generalizing to other contexts calls for caution.
- The study heard from a single group, the faculty. Students, regulators or the market may weigh the criteria differently.
- The literature review used only the Web of Science database.
GARRÁN, Pablo Turbuk. Entre a reputação e a legitimidade: uma investigação mista sobre critérios estratégicos e aceitação institucional. [Between reputation and legitimacy: a mixed-methods investigation of strategic criteria and institutional acceptance.] Doctoral thesis (Business Administration), Graduate Program in Business Administration, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, 2025. Advisor: Prof. Dr. Fellipe Silva Martins.
This interactive version simplifies the thesis for a general audience. The theoretical framework, statistical procedures and full discussions are in the original work.