*2.2.2 Corporations and popular legitimacy*

The policy regulation notwithstanding non-mandatory nature is generally understood to be complied by the corporations especially the top business tycoons. These CSR compliances are believed to increase the societal acceptance of the corporations in absence of an electoral process legitimizing their existence [22]. According to [23] there are two types of legitimacy, input and output. Input legitimacy, in principle, refers to involvement of stakeholders in setting CSR standards. Output legitimacy is oriented towards the capability of the government or corporations to realize the expectations of the citizens. It is submitted that a sound CSR policy should be a combination of input and output factors. However, output factors require some further detailing due to the contextual relevance. If the government places a particular social issue on the fore-front, it is submitted that it has a potential of 'bandwagon effect' [24]. It implies that once a specific initiative gains societal relevance which may be deliberately brought to the fore by the government, a large number of corporations may direct its CSR initiatives towards it. The government here uses its popular appeal to exert soft pressure on corporations. The corporations on their end experience the competitive pressure. Needless to mention, there is no fixed standard to assess the performance of this proposition in objective terms. The normative appeal of the proposition lies in its inherent rationality.

The policy of government towards CSR requires separate enumeration to assess the governmental commitment to CSR. Studying the CSR policy of different countries involves only a broad overview of those policies. It excludes specific Public-Private Partnerships which may be labelled as CSR in some countries. It is so because such partnerships operate more in relation to specific contracts than as a general matter of policy.
