Doing extreme by doing good

Firms adopting deviant strategies are generally subject to impaired legitimacy and heightened risk. Based on the legitimacy literature, we hypothesize that strategically deviant firms are motivated to engage in corporate social responsibility activities as protection from a potential legitimacy loss. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms during the 2003–2011 period, we find that firms with deviant strategies are more likely to engage in charitable donations. In addition, the positive effect of strategic deviance on donations is alleviated when firms communicate effectively with financial analysts, and when block holders largely own these firms.