Symbolic or substantive? Discursive features of moral legitimation in CSR communication

Scholars have advanced competing accounts of how discursive features of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication relate to firms’ moral legitimation. We examine two such features, discursive distinctiveness and topical diversity, asking for each whether it more often serves symbolic moral legitimation (general value statements and aspirations not anchored in specific actions) or substantive moral legitimation (claims linked to concrete practices, events, or resource-backed commitments). A multilevel analysis of 2,090 manually coded CSR text segments from 15 European media firms (2018–2020) shows that discursive distinctiveness is more often associated with symbolic legitimation, and topical diversity associates more often with substantive legitimation. Our findings provide evidence on competing accounts of each discursive feature’s relationship to moral legitimation, contributing to developing a deeper understanding of the theoretical link between CSR communication and its role in moral legitimacy construction.