Ethical change, legal normativity and social legitimacy: Organizational transformation as a socio-legal process

Georgia Chioni

doi:10.35295/sz.iisl.2565

Authors

Georgia Chioni University of West Attica/Hellenic Open University https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4339-056X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/sz.iisl.2565

Keywords:

Organizational change, socio-legal theory, business ethics, sociology of law

Abstract

This article examines organizational change in enterprises as a socio-legal process rather than a purely technical or managerial transformation. Drawing on the sociology of law and business ethics, it explores how legal norms, ethical expectations and institutional pressures shape the legitimacy of organizational change. The analysis adopts an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, engaging with the work of Luhmann, Bourdieu, Cotterrell, Habermas and institutional theory. Enterprises are conceptualized as social actors embedded in broader legal, cultural and normative environments, where ethical discourse functions both as a mechanism of control and a source of legitimacy. The article argues that organizational change involves processes of moral and legal legitimation through which enterprises negotiate social acceptance and institutional continuity. By framing organizational transformation as a socio-legal phenomenon, it contributes to law and society scholarship by demonstrating how legal structures and ethical norms jointly shape the conditions under which organizational change becomes legitimate, socially intelligible and sustainable.

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