Producing leadership legitimacy in civil society–A study of online presentations of leaders in Sweden

Abstract

This article investigates how Swedish civil society organizations (CSOs) legitimize their leaders through online press releases presenting newly elected or recruited leaders, and which leadership ideals that are reproduced. The aim is to analyze how leaders are socially legitimized through leadership ideals in a time of increased demands on CSOs. The study moves away from the dominant perspective on leaders as actors contributing to the organizations, in favour of studying leaders as organizational assets whose image needs to be handled by the organizations. The article is based on a qualitative analysis of 54 online statements from Swedish peak CSOs, focusing on how the leaders are presented concerning personal characteristics, qualifications and missions. The results of the study indicate that Swedish CSO leaders are mainly legitimized with reference to traditional popular movement leadership ideals. Such ideals seem to serve as legitimators regardless of the type of organization. However, there are also legitimacy claims linked to managerial and administrative skills in line with third sector leadership ideals, suggesting potentially conflicting expectations on CSO leaders. These findings can be related to trends such as New Public Management, which push civil society actors to develop new skills and networks and to become more business-like.