Mechanisms of Digital Legitimacy in Public Infrastructure Organizations: A Comparative Case Study of Airport AI Surveillance and ESG Governance

Abstract

This study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance systems and ESG information systems are governed to produce digital legitimacy as an operational outcome in public infrastructure organizations. Rather than treating digital legitimacy as a precondition for technology adoption or a normative evaluation, this study conceptualizes it as an organizational-level operational outcome pattern generated through the alignment between information systems governance and institutional environments. Using a document-based qualitative comparative case study of four international airports—Frankfurt (EU), Atlanta (USA), Incheon (Korea), and Beijing (China)—we find that AI surveillance systems primarily operate along a trust-anxiety dimension mediating tensions between public safety and social acceptance, whereas ESG information systems function as ex-post governance mechanisms that institutionalize transparency and accountability. The cross-national comparison reveals that digital legitimacy does not converge toward a single optimal model. Instead, it differentiates into distinct operational outcome patterns—explanation-based (EU), performance-based (USA), balanced (Korea), and integration & control-based (China)—depending on how information systems governance prioritizes and manages trade-offs among operational performance, risk, and social acceptance. By reframing digital transformation as a legitimacy-oriented operations management challenge, this study extends research on information systems governance and provides a comparative framework for understanding digital legitimacy in public infrastructure organizations.