**1. Introduction**

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a critical tool for stakeholder integration and connotes organizational engagements that span beyond operational and legal necessity to express environmental and social concerns [1, 2]. Its nature is enshrined in the quest to portray an organization as a viable partner for societal progress and impresses the organization as a strategic player with a long-term interest in the business and social landscape. The objective of CSR is triggered as a strategic intent of the managerial cadre that fosters their interest of strategic relevance in the host or operating society; hence, relatively influences the perception of the active and passive players in their stakeholders' environment.

Organizations are factually profit-oriented enterprises; irrespective of this vested economic quest, CSR is deployed as a pro-social goal engagement that aligns a balance between organizations' economic, legal, environmental, and social objectives. The essence of CSR is captured in its topical discourse as a global organizational practice that has gained significance in academia and industry. This is evident in its correlation to the development, advancement, and sustainability of organizational immediate and strategic interests which gains them acceptance amongst stakeholders [3, 4].

Heath and Palenchar [5] note that the quest for CSR as a renowned organizational construct was initiated when stakeholders questioned organizations' legitimacy. Hence, stakeholders questioned the sustainability of organizations' practices and their influence on labour, society, and the environment; they likewise pressured stricter legislative policy and control. In response to these pressures, the engagement of CSR was initiated by organizations to deflect the pressure from aggrieved stakeholders, and also as a recurrent proactive practice to deter future pressures [5, 6]; hence, CSR as a passive and active strategy relatively gained organizations some legitimacy.

In topical times, CSR is progressively been enshrined in organizational strategy; regardless of its generalized impression on an organization's connectedness to its society, Michael Jensen and Milton Friedman amongst others have questioned CSR motive [7]. The unresolved curiosity is anchored on the rationale for the utilization of CSR [8, 9], and the price to which organizations are willing to offer in attaining legitimacy from their host or operating society. How ethical is this price for legitimacy and the impression organization is aiming to achieve? Organizations are consistently optimizing their opportunities to advance their goals, advantages, and relevance in the global market landscape; amongst the options utilized in the advancement of such strategic intent is the tool of CSR as a passive or active strategy in social engagement. Notwithstanding the universal applicability of CSR and its explicit benefits to organizations, its engagement still raises subtle curiosity as to the ethics of gaining legitimacy from organizational stakeholders.

This paper aims to explore the dynamics of the ethics in legitimacy quest through CSR and makes postulation on the prospect of CSR in sustaining business engagement. The study contribution is anchored on making a narrative exposition on the dynamics of ethics in legitimacy by organizations' CSR engagement, exploring the study objective in the context of the dynamic capability theory, and postulating the prospects of CSR in its ethical navigation to legitimacy.

The articulation of the study objective will be ideologically discussed with the following headings; progression of CSR, legitimacy for organizations, CSR critic analogy, CSR and legitimacy, implication of legitimacy gap, "loss/abandonment phase" of legitimation, dynamic capability theory perspective on CSR, empirical review, conclusion and prospect. The study utilized a narrative literature review methodology; it offers more potential opportunities and insight for systematic comprehension and speculation than other quantitative review approaches and enables a theoretical structure and context for a study.
