Public disclosure and actional legitimacy: Evidence from WFP's operations in Nepal's earthquake affected community

This paper investigates how a global humanitarian NGO, World Food Program (WFP), struggled to maintain its legitimacy in response to crisis regarding the distribution of rotten food among earthquake victims in Nepal in mid-2015. Through thematic analysis of news media articles and WFP’s disclosure documents, and relevant reports released by the Nepalese government and human rights organisations, the study finds that while WFP put emphasis on the promise of future commitment as part of its actional legitimation process, it took a strong defensive approach, with a limited responses regarding current action s. The paper contributes by providing insight in an operational level that an organisational action in a disaster affected community will remain ineffective until proper coordination with local stakeholders including the local government and community members is fully developed.