Organizational Legitimacy of Multinational Enterprises in the Pearl River Delta

Currently, more and more Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) conduct foreign direct investments (FDI) in Pearl River Delta (PRD). This study is designed to research empirically organizational legitimacy typology of MNEs as compared with that of domestic companies at the perspective of local public audience in PRD. Telephone survey was applied to collect data in Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The findings of this article suggest that (1) compared with domestic companies, MNEs have higher pragmatic legitimacy and moral legitimacy, but have lower cognitive legitimacy; (2) the local public audience's general legitimacy attitude depends more on pragmatic element and moral element and less on cognitive one; and (3) MNEs have higher general legitimacy than domestic companies. This study is expected to give foreign and domestic managers in PRD practical implication about specific legitimacy management in terms of three legitimacy elements and suggest how they can be really accepted by the PRD's society.