How do networks help hybrid organizations (e.g. community cooperatives) gain legitimacy?

What is it about?

Institutionalization of a new organizational form is a complex process, especially for "hybrid" forms that combine the features and logics of several existing forms. We suggest that legitimizing both their new venture and their new, hybrid organizational form is complicated and resource-intensive for individual organizations. Therefore, we shift the focus to networks, i.e. inter-organizational collective action. We study the construction of the European network of renewable energy cooperatives "Rescoop.eu" and the way in which it pooled together resources and efforts to jointly institutionalize renewable energy cooperatives as a new hybrid organizational form.

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Why is it important?

We find that, in order to institutionalize the new hybrid organizational form, the network can contribute to overcome the legitimacy challenges inherent in organizational hybridity. In particular, the network builds field-level receptivity to institutional pluralism, collectively codifies the hybrid organizational form, and consolidates legitimation towards plural field-level audiences. In order to perform these institutionalization roles, the network itself becomes increasingly formalized and mobilizes mediating functions involving different types of resources, legitimacy and target audiences. The research advances knowledge of hybrid organizational forms and their collective institutionalization through inter-organizational networks.