The Legitimacy of Organizational Influence

Attitudes toward the legitimacy of influencing various kinds of behavior in an organizational context are examined. An attitude survey revealed that samples from business managers, local union leaders, and college students were highly consistent in their ranking of behavior areas; the more jobrelated the area, the more it was considered legitimate to influence. In contrast, the samples differed significantly in the number of areas considered to be legitimate to influence, and in their responses to given behavior areas, for example, "attitude toward unions."