Toward a new rethoric of corporate social responsibility and the legitimacy strategies behind

This paper looks into the process of searching for new forms of legitimacy of firms. Through the analysis of annual sustainability reports we acknowledge the existence of three types of rhetoric: (1) positivistic (embedded in the scientific-economic paradigm); (2) foundational (based on the fundamental constructs of the CSR theories); (3) and dialectic (which appears in a search of social legitimation). Each one of these refers to a different form of legitimacy and is based on distinct theories of the firm analyzed in this paper. The dialectic rhetoric seems to be a sign of a new understanding of the role of the firm in society that we relate to the citizenship theories. However, this new form of rhetoric is still fairly uncommon although is increasing in use. Combining theory and business examples, this paper can help managers and researchers alike in the conceptualization of how firms make sense of their role in society and what might be the forms of differentiation through their rhetoric strategies.