Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect to Legitimacy of the Companies? Analysis of Spain and Mexico through the Case Method

Abstract

The highly competitive environment in which companies move means that they are constantly searching for initiatives that increase their legitimacy. The consideration of corporate social responsibility within the strategy of the company, means that it can be considered as a vehicle to legitimize companies in the face of society. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the relationship between corporate social responsibility and social legitimacy. For this, a case study will be carried out on 4 companies (three Spanish and one Mexican) included in the MERCO Responsibility and Corporate Governance Ranking, Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies and Fortune Global 500 for the period 2017-2018. The research reveals the existence of a positive relationship between social legitimacy and corporate social responsibility with business results, obtaining as a main conclusion that legitimacy represents within the company an intangible and key resource that must be managed so as not to lose it.