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Abstract
In the last decades, corporations have been increasingly reporting on their social and environmental activities, to highlight transparency and accountability towards their business activities. This positive trend is strongly driven by stakeholder pressuring in various dimensions. However, in the context of major crisis/ incidents, questions have been raised on how companies may use Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures to regain legitimacy and restore reputation towards those negative situations. This study will rely on two corporate examples of legitimacy-threatening events: the Marikana massacre (2012) associated with Lonmin and the Mariana disaster associated with Samarco and BHP Billiton. Taking as a basis the three companies mentioned, this study will analyze how their CSR disclosures have evolved, both quantitatively and qualitatively, within the timeframe “before, during and after” the incident. The intention for the two major scandals to constitute a multicase is lingered on the fact that they have not been extensively researched and both have resulted in different impacts to different stakeholders. Findings extend and corroborate the previous literature research on the legitimacy theory, by demonstrating that companies did, in fact, change their CSR disclosure patterns and strategies, presumably by attempting to regain legitimacy after the incidents.
