Institutional legitimacy and spaces: a grounded analysis of firefighters' journey in digitization
Résumé
This paper provides a comprehensive and adductive analysis of the digitizationof a firefighting organization. We followed the principles of grounded theory (B.G. Glaser & Strauss, 1973) and collected qualitiative data by completing semicenteredinterviews and passive observation. Our analysis suggests that eventhough the firefighting organization intended to strengthen its institutionallegitimacy thanks to digitization, its operational capabilities were actuallychallenged by massive reliance on IT. Our analysis also highlights howcollaborative practices emerged among operational to address with the internalissues caused by digitization. These practices supported the firefightingorganization’s management of spaces during operations, which eventuallyprovided a better support to the firefighting organization’s legitimacy thandigitization. As the literature has mainly explored institutional legitimacy aspolitical matter,our work contributes to a enriched understanding of the role ofoperational practices and spaces in the building of an organization’s institutionallegitimacy. This study is currently under progress.In the latest years, organizations such as firefightingservices have struggled tomaintain their institutional legitimacy in a rapidly changing environment. [...]