Model legitimisation in operational research

This paper suggests that model validation and model legitimisation are two overlapping but nevertheless distinct activities, and that it takes more than being valid for an OR model to be organizationally acceptable: it has to be legitimate. The paper forwards the idea that the implementation of a model is necessarily part of a change process and hence has impact on the organization. It discusses how organizational contract and legitimacy are related to one another, and how, in a change process, a model can be used in different modes by different stakeholders. Concrete suggestions for model legitimisation are proposed. The paper concludes by linking model legitimisation and model validation.