Mapping Legitimacy Research in Business and Management: A CiteSpace-Based Bibliometric Review of Conceptual Diffusion and Thematic Evolution

This study examines the diffusion and thematic evolution of legitimacy research in business and management. Based on 6,034 records from the Web of Science Core Collection covering 1997-2025, the paper uses descriptive statistics, co-citation analysis, keyword clustering, burst detection, and thematic evolution mapping to identify the field's publication patterns, knowledge structure, and research frontiers. The findings show that legitimacy has expanded from its institutional-theory foundations into entrepreneurship, CSR, sustainability reporting, ESG, governance accountability, international business, and digital platform studies. Rather than replacing earlier traditions, newer themes reconnect with classic questions of organizational recognition, audience judgment, disclosure, responsibility, and resource mobilization. The review further suggests that CSR, carbon disclosure, ESG performance, green innovation, artificial intelligence, and gender diversity have become active frontier topics. The paper argues that future research should specify the type of legitimacy being studied, the audiences making legitimacy judgments, and the evidence through which legitimacy is acquired, maintained, challenged, repaired, or lost.