Density effects on organizational decoupling

This study examines how stable legitimacy of animal welfare emerges when there are
multiple, diverse meanings at the micro level. I propose a network model of legitimacy
development based on an inductive study of the U.S. animal lawsuits and adoption of animal
laws from 1865 to 2010. Network Analyses of animal lawsuits indicate that: 1) the persistent
discursive diversity in meaning is a precondition of cross-referencing among dissimilar issues of
animals; 2) it leads to a transitive network structure that furthers cross-referencing behavior
instead of hybridization; 3) the increasing cross-referencing enables each issue to retain the
equivalent level of discursive validity, and; 4) the emergence of a transitive cross-referencing
structure sustains the diversity at the micro level. The entire processes contribute to field-level
legitimacy of animal welfare, measured by the likelihood of animal law adoption. This inductive
study of animal lawsuits and animal law adoption suggests that stable legitimacy of animal
welfare emerges without either homogeneity or truce at the micro level. The results advance
current understanding of the field-level legitimacy development.