Density-dependent and density-independent legitimation and competition are used to explain the evolution of self-help/mutual-aid (1955—2000), a long-lived population of health movement organizations. While previous research suggests the importance of both kinds of measures, this paper shows that better specification of density-independent sociopolitical legitimation and competitive intensity improves understanding of organizational and institutional factors affecting organizational formation. Sociopolitical legitimation, for instance, has a beneficial impact on self-help/mutual-aid formation, but later depresses founding rates because identity enclosure hinders new entries. Implications for further studies of identity, legitimation and competition are discussed.
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