Case study analysis reveals how organizational myths reconcile contradictory narratives among retail pharmacy workers, indicating internal legitimacy is discursively dynamic and durable.
Key Points
To examine how organizations facing deep institutional contradictions sustain internal legitimacy among their members through narrative processes.
Conducted an in-depth qualitative case study of Walgreens, a Fortune 500 retail pharmacy experiencing conflicting official organizational narratives.
Developed a narrative process model tracking member-authored personal narratives and the collective formation of organizational myths.
Organizations reconcile member-level narrative polyphony by cultivating myths that frame operational contradictions as temporary challenges that will be resolved in the future.
Internal legitimacy operates not as a static, stockpiled resource on a high-to-low continuum, but as a durable yet dynamic polyphony of ongoing member narratives regarding organizational appropriateness.