20.500.12556/RUL-187901 The role of trade unions in environmental governance exploring workers legitimacy judgments Trade unions are increasingly expected to play a role in sustainability transitions, but their legitimacy as environmental governance actors remains underexplored. Our study uses a multidimensional framework to examine how workers, both union members and non-members, evaluate trade union legitimacy “from below.” This framework distinguishes between normative legitimacy, based on environmental values, and instrumental legitimacy, reflected in perceived dual-mandate capability. Survey data from Slovenia reveal robust normative support for union involvement in sustainability, fueled by environmental concern. In contrast, instrumental legitimacy is more conditional and closely linked to union membership. Interestingly, non-members with high environmental concern express even stronger expectations for union involvement than members do. These findings suggest that legitimacy is co-constructed through value alignment and perceived effectiveness rather than inherited from institutional status. By centering worker perceptions, we contribute to environmental governance scholarship by positioning unions as civic actors whose legitimacy is formed “from below” and to legitimacy theory by showing how internal and adjacent publics assess unions' purpose and performance, suggesting that these evaluations may condition unions' authority claims in contested transitions. instrumental legitimacy normative legitimacy Slovenia sustainability transitions union revitalization sindikati trajnost (ekologija) true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-09-16 08:29:32 2026-09-16 08:29:35 2026-09-17 04:29:52 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 14 str. no. Vol. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova VTisku NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 331.105.44:502.131.1(497.4) 1756-9338 10.1002/eet.70140 291187971 Golob_et_al_EPG.pdf Golob_et_al_EPG.pdf 1 F8B438587E86AB5BC9CBC02C689238F3 39593a2209a935c38c30d52d5d4188373a00e9c255c771ed864887e4da72781f a32cd1d9-b198-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247742 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eet.70140 0 bfe617b3-b198-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247743 Fakulteta za družbene vede 0 0 0