Co‐Creating Legitimacy for All. A Local Non‐Governmental Organization's Role in Post‐Conflict Liberia

ABSTRACT This article explores the multiple relationships and legitimacy demands that Southern non‐governmental organizations (SNGO) face as they broker between the field of development cooperation and the local context. The article draws from organizational institutionalism, a rather novel approach for the study of development NGOs and their management, to understand how SNGOs manage this situation of institutional complexity. Based on a qualitative study of an NGO in post‐conflict Liberia, the article shows that a local NGO engages in various managerial strategies to enhance its legitimacy at the intersection of these different contexts and with several legitimacy audiences. Southern NGOs need to consider all major legitimacy audiences simultaneously and the main argument is that the SNGO's own survival depends on its contribution to the legitimacy audiences' capacity to satisfy the legitimacy demands of their own stakeholders.