Legitimacy Lost and Back to Normality: Scandals in the Public Sector – the Swedish Case

2007

Scandals provide an opportunity to generate more knowledge about the process in which organizational legitimacy can be restored. This article is based on a study of all scandals in the Swedish public sector from 1995-1997 and four case studies in four organizations conducted 2003. In scandals in the Swedish public sector, players in leading positions are linked to some transgression, often of a financial nature. The less expected the transgression, the stronger the public reaction and the more the organisation’s legitimacy diminish. A scandal implies a failure for everyone in the organisation. The organisation is subjected to questions, scrutiny and slander. Because the tough scrutiny, it b…