Measuring perceived legitimacy of food quality labels: A Mixed qualitative-quantitative approach for developing formative indicators.

Legitimacy is defined as the generalized perception that an entity's actions are appropriate within a socially constructed system of norms, values, and beliefs. While this concept is well established in organizational literature, consumer perceptions of food quality labels' legitimacy remain underexplored. To address this gap, we adapted the organizational legitimacy framework-cognitive, regulative, pragmatic, and moral dimensions-to the context of quality labels and developed a corresponding measurement instrument. Perceived legitimacy was conceptualized as a second-order formative construct composed of four first-order formative dimensions. Using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach, we designed and validated indicators for each dimension. Our methodology involved: • Qualitative exploration to generate indicators aligned with each legitimacy dimension. • Quantitative validation through a survey of 600 French consumers. • Partial Least Squares (PLS) modeling to test reliability and validity. This article details the development process and validation of the proposed instrument. Despite some contextual limitations, the model offers a novel framework for understanding the multifaceted nature of legitimacy in consumer evaluations of labels. The results confirm the relevance of legitimacy as a construct in label studies and provide useful insights for consumer behavior research. The method can be replicated in other labeling or geographical contexts.