The Social Impact of CSR in Mexico’s Wind Energy Transition

The expansion of wind energy projects in Indigenous territories has intensified debates about the social legitimacy of corporate practices. In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, the main wind corridor in Mexico, wind farms coexist with deeply rooted Zapotec governance systems, creating a complex interface between corporate responsibility and community well-being. Based on a survey of 184 workers employed by wind companies in the region, this study examines the relationship between perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in its ethical, legal, and philanthropic dimensions, and social and economic well-being. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and Importance–Performance Map Analysis (IPMA), we found that legal and philanthropic CSR significantly enhance both types of well-being, whereas ethical CSR only affects social well-being. These findings reflect the perspective of workers as hybrid actors, simultaneously employees and members of Zapotec communities, and should be interpreted in light of the study’s limitations: its focus on employed individuals, cross-sectional design, and reliance on self-reported perceptions. The results contribute to global debates on symbolic versus substantive CSR, distributive justice, and the risk of “green colonialism” in energy transitions.