The legitimation of social enterprises is contingent upon the institutional context and targeted stakeholders; however, this claim has not been explored systematically, considering existing legitimacy strategies. Understanding the reasons behind the pursuit of legitimacy and the strategies that can be employed in specific contexts is paramount for social enterprises to obtain legitimacy and enhance positive social impact. This paper undertakes a systematic literature review at the intersection of social enterprise legitimacy, institutional theory and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Drawing on articles in journals included in the Web of Science database, the review enhances understanding of social enterprise legitimacy research through institutional contextualization by answering the question: ‘Why and how do social enterprises aim to obtain legitimacy in different contexts and towards which ecosystem actors?’ Six main reasons why social enterprises pursue legitimacy are identified, namely: to acquire tangible (financial and material) and intangible (community support and trust) resources; to compete with commercial businesses and non-governmental organizations; to comply with stakeholder demands; to overcome institutional challenges; to create social impact; and to bring about institutional change. Alongside these reasons for legitimacy pursuit, legitimacy strategies and the addressed actors and institutions are identified and synthesized into three categories: institutional context dependency; closeness to the audience; and multidimensionality and process perspective, identifying promising avenues for further research that are more context-sensitive. The review provides guidance for social enterprises seeking to identify and adapt legitimacy strategies, enabling them to address the pressing issues of legitimacy deficits that continue to hamper the generation of social impact.

中文翻译：

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从制度方法探索生态系统内社会企业的合法性：系统的文献综述和研究议程

社会企业的合法性取决于制度背景和目标利益相关者；然而，考虑到现有的合法性策略，这一主张尚未得到系统探讨。了解追求合法性背后的原因以及在特定背景下可以采取的策略对于社会企业获得合法性和增强积极的社会影响至关重要。本文对社会企业合法性、制度理论和创业生态系统的交叉点进行了系统的文献综述。该评论借鉴了 Web of Science 数据库中收录的期刊文章，通过制度情境化回答了以下问题，增强了对社会企业合法性研究的理解：“社会企业为何以及如何旨在在不同背景下以及针对哪些生态系统参与者获得合法性？” '社会企业追求合法性的六个主要原因是：获得有形（财务和物质）和无形（社区支持和信任）资源；与商业企业和非政府组织竞争；遵守利益相关者的要求；克服体制挑战；创造社会影响；并带来制度变革。除了这些追求合法性的原因之外，合法性战略和所涉及的行为者和机构也被确定并综合为三类：制度背景依赖；与观众的亲密程度；多维性和过程视角，确定更具上下文敏感性的进一步研究的有希望的途径。该审查为寻求确定和调整合法性战略的社会企业提供了指导，使它们能够解决持续阻碍社会影响产生的合法性赤字的紧迫问题。