This article examines the interrelationship between legitimacy building efforts – the different ways in which social enterprises (SEs) conform to stakeholder expectations – and types of innovation – the different approaches by which they create social and economic value through product, process and business model innovation. Using a multi-case study research design of twenty SEs in Scotland and Romania, we find that the SEs adjusted their approach to legitimacy building depending upon the types of innovation and stakeholder involved. Also, while all SEs pursued pragmatic and moral legitimacy through conforming with their stakeholders’ expectations, the type of innovation shaped the way in which they prioritised one form of legitimacy over another to deal with the tensions involved in pursuing legitimacy with heterogeneous stakeholders. This finding emphasises the importance of innovation type when explaining how SEs balance the tensions involved in trying to conform to a wide range of heterogeneous stakeholders with different expectations.

本文探讨了合法性建设努力之间的相互关系——社会企业 (SE) 符合利益相关者期望的不同方式——以及创新类型——它们通过产品、流程和商业模式创新创造社会和经济价值的不同方法。通过对苏格兰和罗马尼亚 20 个社会企业的多案例研究设计，我们发现这些企业根据创新类型和所涉及的利益相关者调整了其合法性建设的方法。此外，虽然所有社会企业都通过符合利益相关者的期望来追求务实和道德的合法性，但创新类型塑造了他们优先考虑一种形式的合法性而不是另一种形式的方式，以应对与不同利益相关者追求合法性所涉及的紧张关系。