**3. Legitimacy for organizations**

Organization legitimacy connotes congruence's between an organization's policy and operational value system and the host or operational society value system [25–27]. Legitimacy is established on the value proposition and establishment of a society in which organizations operate, hence, any actual or perceived discrepancy between the value system of an organization and the society it operates in, results in a proportionate or escalated threat to organizational legitimacy. Hence organizational legitimacy establishes the practical assumption that the activities of an organization are suitably aligned to its operating or host society's value orientations and establishments. Legitimacy is anchored on the collective societal value system and not individual value orientation.

The quest for legitimacy is propelled by the perception of it being a strategic resource that enables the smooth operation of organizational activities and productive engagement with stakeholders. Legitimacy as an indispensable resource can be optimized with regard to the quality, relevance, capacity, and sensitivity of its engagement; nonetheless, the prerogative for confirming organizational legitimacy is bestowed by society. This denotes that regardless of the strategies deployed by an

organization in influencing their perception, the actual confirmation of legitimacy is enshrined in the host or operating society's perception and interpretation of organizations' activities and interests. Hence, organizations are deliberate in effecting strategic consultation and collaboration on areas of mutual benefits and visibility to promote the chances of being accepted by the host society.

Organizations' legitimacy may be confirmed by the host or operation society even though its operations and CSR activities are incongruent with the societal value system; this occurs when the society fails to accurately perceive and interpret the organizations' activities [26]. The confirmation of acceptance is a recurrent process, howbeit a mostly informal activity; hence, the quest for organizational legitimacy is mostly activated and sustained through a continuously deliberate organizational engagement with its stakeholders, and majorly on the consent of the stakeholders in the host or operating society.

Having established the re-current protocol for sustaining a confirmed legitimacy, organizations' management is questionably creative in engaging juxtaposed strategies that question the ethics of legitimacy [27, 28]. This is reinforced by the intangible nature of legitimacy; hence management may explore relative manipulative or impactful strategies to create a CSR organizational profile to further its explicit interest.

Deegan [27] posits that the host or operating society's disapproval or withdrawal of legitimacy for an organizations' operation is subtly evident in the boycotting of the organizational value propositions (i.e. products), withdrawal of access to some factors of production (i.e. land, labour, etc.), lobbying for more stringent government tax and regulation, etc.
