Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how legitimizers invest in their approach to meet the suspicion of being a one‐sided advocate. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case study of four public sector decisions, based on a comparative argumentation analysis of two...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the paradoxical image of consultants as “experts without expertise.” It examines the extent to which different stakeholders’ perceptions of consultants’ expertise are aligned, and why. Design/methodology/approach – This research...