Corporate Social Responsibility, Legitimacy, and Rhetorical Responses to Social Activism: Evidence From the Black Lives Matter Movement

Mohammed Mosaraf Hossain, Md. Nurul Kabir, Monowar Mahmood, Naser M. AbuGhazaleh

2026

Closed access Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1002/csr.71098
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates how large corporations rhetorically respond to social activism and how such responses are used to construct and manage corporate legitimacy. Using the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as an empirical context, the study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication attempts to shape organizational discourse and the development of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Drawing on qualitative analyses of multi‐source data from CSR disclosures, annual reports, executive communications, and media outputs of 50 firms from the Fortune 500 , the study employs systematic content and thematic analyses to examine how organizations construct, articulate, and legitimize their responses to social activism. The findings demonstrate that corporations strategically attempt to deploy logos, ethos, and pathos to construct cognitive, pragmatic, and moral legitimacy, with rhetorical patterns varying across industries and communication platforms. Overall, the study advances CSR and business ethics scholarship by theorizing corporate rhetoric as a central mechanism through which firms navigate legitimacy under conditions of heightened social scrutiny.