Identifying the Discourse Framework of Sustainable Brand Legitimacy in an Industrial Context

Today, companies are under pressure to accept social and environmental responsibilities within the framework of their strategies and management systems, and sustainability can differentiate competing brands in B2B markets. On the other hand, achieving sustainability and competitive advantage requires companies to support and combine their branding, reputation, and legitimacy in a mutual way. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the discourse framework of sustainable brand legitimacy in an industrial context. The philosophical framework of this research is the interpretive-positivist paradigm and is a category of applied and exploratory research. The participants of the research, who were selected purposefully, are 12 B2B activists familiar with sustainable branding, whose views were analyzed using Q factor analysis using spss25 software. The results show that the model of sustainable brand legitimacy in an industrial context is in five categories: external legitimacy, pragmatic legitimacy, normative legitimacy, instrumental legitimacy, and legitimacy catalyst. The process of legitimization is a process that involves not only the marketing function but the entire organization. Therefore, B2B businesses should pay attention to the use of employees in customer relations, because they are basically the faces of the brand. Also, sustainable B2B brands should be associated with positive associations; Create value for both suppliers and customers.