Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become one of the increasingly important means for firms to gain legitimacy. Extant literature on corporate social performance (CSP) suggests that firms with higher CSP tend to have higher degrees of legitimacy and thus more likely to enable firms to gain superior financial performance. However, how the inter-organizational CSP-heterogeneity influences the corporate takeover decision, one of the central strategic management issues, remains ambiguous. To address the problem, this study investigates how the CSP heterogeneity between the targets and acquirers influences the corporate takeovers with the lens of legitimacy. Specifically, this study argues that 1) when the acquirer’s CSP is higher than the target’s CSP, the pay premiums of the deal tend to be higher; 2) when the acquirer’s CSP is lower than the target's CSP, the post-acquisition financial performance of the acquirers might be superior. This study aims to contribute to the legitimacy, CSR, and M&A literature.