组织合法性理论及其在教育研究领域的应用

The Theory of Organizational Legitimacy in the West and Its Application in Educational Research

组织合法性理论是研究诸如学校等强制度环境组织的重要理论工具。当前国内对教育系统合法性的研究总体上还不够规范。因此有必要了解把握西方对组织合法性的研究状况和框架。文章综述了新制度主义的组织合法性理论,包括意义、分类、生成机制、组织策略等。合法性来源具有多样性、异质性、复杂性、组织与环境的互动性等特点,不同类型的组织、不同的组织个体有着不同的合法性环境。提升合法性是组织能力建设的重要组成部分。文章概述并预测了组织合法性研究的趋势和在教育领域的应用。

Organizational legitimacy theory is an important theoretical tool for studying strong institutional environment, such as schools. The Chinese Scholars ＇ research on organizational legitimacy, including educational system＇s legitimacy, is bountiful, but they are basically not normative. This paper gives an overview of the previous studies on organizational legitimacy from the standpoint of new institutionalism, including its meaning, classification, formation mechanism and organizational strategies. The paper finds that the origin of the legitimacy is diverse, heterogeneous, complex and dynamic, and different organizations exist in different legitimate environments. Promoting legitimacy is an essential part of the process of organizational capacity building. Additionally, it forecasts the trends in the research of organizational legitimacy and the implication for educational research.