Resumen de Identity, community, and audience: How wholly owned foreign subsidiaries gain legitimacy in China

Jiatao Li, Jing Yang

• Conceptualizing different foreign entry modes as distinct organizational forms, we examine how wholly owned foreign subsidiaries (WOFSs) gain legitimacy in a host country. Drawing on the institutional and ecological perspectives, we build a legitimation framework based on the ideas of identity, community, and audience. Specifically, we identify dual sources of legitimating influences for these subsidiaries in China in 1979-95: foreign direct investment (FDI) communities, and host country public opinion. Our findings reveal that the legitimation and competition dynamics of FDI communities and Chinese acceptance of the organizational form both influenced adoption of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)