Varieties of legitimacy: a configurational institutional design analysis of eco-labels

Certification is becoming an important global governance instrument. Several authors have discussed the legitimacy of these systems. This paper uses eco-labels as a specific case of certification systems and analyzes more than 400 eco-labels on three components related to legitimacy. It aims to expand current research in two ways: conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, the paper proposes a configurational approach to assessing legitimacy on the basis of the institutional design of certification systems. It is argued that, so far, most attention has gone to the decision-making processes in certification systems with regard to standard-setting and the processes of granting certificates and verification via conformity assessment. While important in assessing legitimacy, these elements should be complemented by accountability mechanisms that allow interested parties to hold organizations to account after a decision has been reached and to raise a dispute. Empirically, the paper makes use of the Ecolabel Index database, which contains data on more than 400 eco-labels operating worldwide. The paper uses the population of eco-labels as a case study to empirically explore and analyze the diversity of more than 400 eco-labels on different institutional components related to legitimacy. The paper shows that there is significant variation between eco-labels with regard to their institutional design, resulting in systems with a strong institutional design and systems with a weak institutional design.