By Januarius Asongu

 This dissertation examines how multinational corporations manage “dual legitimacy”—balancing global CSR standards with local institutional expectations—through a comparative qualitative study of Nestlé subsidiaries in the Netherlands and Nigeria. Using discourse analysis of CSR documents, employee narratives, and NGO accounts, it demonstrates that CSR implementation varies significantly across institutional environments. In highly regulated contexts like the Netherlands, CSR is integrated into operational routines, while in institutionally weaker environments like Nigeria, CSR becomes more symbolic and selectively implemented. The study reframes CSR decoupling as a rational legitimacy strategy rather than hypocrisy and highlights the limits of standardized global CSR policies across diverse institutional settings.