#FeesMustFall# movement in the post-apartheid era: legitimacy battle for leaders

Abstract

Purpose

Underpinned by institutional legitimacy, this study explores how South African public university senior managers struggled to maintain legitimacy during an unplanned radical change process.

Design/methodology/approach

Gioia's grounded theory analysis approach is employed to analyse interviews with 37 senior managers of public-funded universities in South Africa.

Findings

This study's findings show that a change without proper planning severely damages institutions in all aspects of leadership's normative, empirical, moral and pragmatic legitimacy.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the literature on legitimacy by illustrating the importance of institutional legitimacy during unplanned social change and the factors that negate legitimacy.

Originality/value

Though other legitimacy models have been well developed, they do not apply to such unplanned social change in organisations. This study shows a different angle of the legitimacy crisis under unplanned social change conditions.

Citation

du Plessis, L. and Bui, H.T.M. (2023), "#FeesMustFall# movement in the post-apartheid era: legitimacy battle for leaders", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 663-678. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-11-2022-0338