This conceptual paper explores the legitimating process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in relation to supply chain management. To date, the literature on CSR reporting, in relating to supply chain management, is based on individual segments within supply chains. This paper introduces a framework for the holistic evaluation of the entire supply chain CSR reporting, including the adoption of social audits as a legitimation tool. The theoretical lens of three perspectives of legitimation (structural-functionalist, social-constructionist and hegemonic) are explored as possible approaches to assess the drivers behind organisations in a supply chain reporting on their CSR performance and management. The main finding of this paper is that the development and implementation of the presented framework for evaluating the CSR reporting of the entire supply chain, including social auditing, is a valuable legitimation tool for organisations in a supply chain, and for the industry within which these organisations operate.

中文翻译：

---

通过企业社会责任报告进行供应链合法化

本概念文件探讨了与供应链管理相关的企业社会责任（CSR）报告的合法化过程。迄今为止，有关供应链管理的企业社会责任报告的文献均基于供应链中的各个细分市场。本文介绍了对整个供应链CSR报告进行整体评估的框架，包括采用社会审计作为合法工具。探讨了合法性三个视角（结构功能主义，社会建构主义和霸权主义）的理论视角，作为评估组织中报告企业社会责任绩效和管理的驱动因素的可能方法。