From an "outside group" to a catalyst for corporate change: Examining activists' legitimation strategies.

• Activists do not only solely on their own rhetorical arguments to attain legitimacy. • Activists link their arguments to external narratives to help acquire legitimacy. • Activists must vigilantly monitor issues to capitalize on developments. Activist organizations use issues management when pressuring corporations to alter practices and policies that these groups find problematic. Throughout this process, activists must establish legitimacy for their issue concerns, organizations, and proposed solutions to gain public support for their activities. This study qualitatively analyzes the communication practices of 21 activist organizations to understand the strategies that these unique groups harness as they seek to build legitimacy as part of the issues management process. The findings contribute to a growing body of public relations research on activist communication by introducing a new legitimation strategy that underscores the importance of ongoing issues monitoring for activists and illustrates how activist organizations can co-opt extant narratives to build legitimacy for their existing issue arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]