How Consumers Contest Legitimacy: Skepticism Toward Corporate Social Responsibility

ABSTRACT Consumer skepticism toward Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives operates not only as an individual‐level response but also as a societal governance mechanism that disciplines firms and reshapes organizational legitimacy. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with consumers in an emerging Latin American economy, this study advances an integrated framework linking corporate commitment, communication practices, and consumer beliefs. The findings identify a set of factors explaining how perceptions of corporate commitment interact with communication strategies to frame credibility judgments, highlighting both drivers that intensify skepticism and mechanisms that can mitigate it. This research advances the field by integrating consumers' perceptions of CSR commitment and CSR communication within a single analytical framework. The study further contributes theoretically by conceptualizing legitimacy beyond the measurable attributes of CSR, connecting micro‐level perceptions with macro‐level issues of legitimacy, social trust, and CSR values in a politically and economically unstable environment, such as Latin America.