Social Economy Organizations (SEO) and business firms have increasingly engaged in cross-sector collaborations. The role of SEO in the provision of social services to the populations is crucial in a world that is facing a global crisis. However, traditional funding sources and organizational capacities of SEO have not always sustained the increasing challenges and the collaborations with private actors can be critical in closing this gap. The reasons for collaborations are diverse, and together with the necessary stability and efficiency, legitimation has been identified as an important determinant (Dacin, Oliver and Roy, 2007; Galaskiewicz, 1985; Oliver, 1990). Legitimacy is a generalized assumption that an entity’s actions are desirable or appropriate within a certain socially constructed system of norms, values or beliefs (Suchman, 1995) and in this sense, these collaborations are valuable for firms as well. The pressure to conform to societal rules and expectations is high and their corporate social responsibility policies lead them to act close to SEO. Because most firms are not specialized in the provision of social activities to the communities, SEO appear as intermediates in this process. Thus, cross-sector collaborations have become more common and the literature has evidenced their importance (e.g. Austin, 2000; Galaskiewicz and Colman, 2006). Nevertheless, field-based studies and the conceptualization on alliances between businesses and nonprofits are still relatively scarce (Austin, 2000) and the broad literature on strategic alliances pays scant attention to the legitimacy-based function of collaborations, especially in the social economy literature. This paper intends to set the basis for an empirical study on the legitimacy needs on cross-sector collaborations between SEO and firms in Portugal. Supported on institutional theory (Meyer and Rowan, 1977; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) and resource-dependence theory (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978), two main discussions are presented: to which extent do SEO and firms have the same legitimacy needs when they engage in these collaborations and whether their legitimacy needs will influence the choice of the type of collaborations.

Austin, J.E., 2000, “Strategy Collaboration between Nonprofits and Business”, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29(1), supplement 2000, 69-97.
Dacin, M.T., C. Oliver and J.P. Roy, 2006, “The legitimacy of Strategic Alliances: An Institutional Perspective”, Strategic Management Journal, 28, 169-187.
DiMaggio, P.J. and W.W. Powell, 1983, “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields”, American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147-160.
Galaskiewicz, J., 1985, “Interoganizational Relations”, Annual Review of Sociology, 11, 281-304.
Galaskiewicz, J., M.S. Colman, 2006, “Collaborations between Corporations and Nonprofit Organizations”, in Powell, W.W. and R. Steinberg (ed.), The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Yale University Press.
Meyer, J.W. and B. Rowan, 1977, “Institutionalized organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony”, American Journal of Sociology, 2, 340-363.
Oliver, C., 1990, “Determinants of Interorganizational Relationships: Integration and Future Directions”, Academy of Management Review, 15(2), 241-265.
Pfeffer, J. and G. R. Salancik, 1978, The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective, New York, NY, Harper and Row.
Suchman, M.C., 1995, “Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches”, Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571-610.