Legitimation strategies in corporate discourse: A comparison of UK and Chinese corporate social responsibility reports

Negative social and environmental consequences caused by corporate activities (e.g., workplace incidents, oil spills, and product-related accidents) can significantly affect the success and survival of a business. When there is bad news to report, how will companies handle the information disclosure? This paper examines discursive strategies UK and Chinese Fortune 500 companies used for communicating negative aspects in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Based on 50 UK and 50 Chinese CSR reports, the study shows how companies legitimize the bad news via the strategies of Denial, Deflection, Mitigation and Admission. Two major differences were observed in the legitimation efforts made by Chinese and UK companies: i) almost all legitimation strategies were more frequently found in UK reports, and ii) UK reports mobilized a wider range of linguistic and rhetorical resources for realizing the strategies. The paper discusses the results by considering cultural, social, and organizational factors that may shape CSR discourse in the two countries. Findings add to the understanding of crisis communication and image repair strategies used by large corporations and the genre of CSR reporting in different cultures. •Legitimation strategies used by UK and Chinese companies were investigated.•50 UK and 50 Chinese corporate social responsibility reports were analysed.•Chinese companies relied mainly on strategies of Deflection and Corrective Actions.•UK companies employed a wider range of linguistic and rhetorical tactics.•Findings reveal differences in the genre of CSR reporting in the two countries.