Systematic Map of the Social Impact Assessment Field

Abstract

Social impact assessment (SIA) provides a methodology for defining, monitoring and employing measures to demonstrate the benefits and/or harms created for target communities through evidence of social outcomes and impacts. Although a recent increase in the number of applications is seen, SIA lacks consensus in its methodology, which increases ambiguity and complicates the generalization of any results obtained from individual studies. The objectives of this study are to investigate the methodology of SIA in order to define trends, state of the art, limitations, knowledge gaps, and to recommend future research directions. This study employs a systematic mapping to determine the methods available to perform SIA, and more importantly to identify a set of fundamental challenges faced by practitioners using SIA. Articles are searched through online databases, and are limited to the English language. A total of 81 articles published between 2009 and 2019 were selected, of which 49 included a case study application. A total of 12 fundamental challenges were identified, based upon the screened articles, which serve as a starting point for future research directions to further enhance the SIA methodology.

Main Factors for Understanding High Impacts on CSR Dimensions in the Finance Industry

“…This study contributes to the knowledge of non-financial impacts of companies, helping to overcome the scarce implementation of impact assessment methods [4]. This research also can be useful for professionals interested in identifying the main dimensions and their combinations, as well as possible paths to obtain high impact at the CSR level [11].…”

“…In addition, the model offers a synthetic measure of impact that allows comparison between firms. Thus, obtaining B Corp certification is required to pass the audit process, therefore overcoming some of the main limitations of other methodological proposals for impact assessment [4,37].…”

“…Nonetheless, despite the explicit distinction between social and environmental impact, the term SIA has been conceived as the process by which social and or environmentally tangible benefits of a company are published, in line with the initial idea of blended value as coined by Emerson [34]. Therefore, it constitutes a methodology for defining, monitoring and communicating benefits or harms, created for specific individuals, communities and/or environments using evidence on results and social and/or environmental impacts [4]. Another related term which has been attributed a similar meaning is "social performance measurement", conceived by some authors as a comprehensive term that includes a varied set of practices (e.g., impact assessment, outcome measurement and program monitoring) that constitute the complete process of assessing social and environmental goals [35].…”

“…In their recent review of the SIA field, Bonilla-Alicea and Fu found among its main challenges: a) the determination of which impacts to consider and their quantification, b) the uncertainty regarding selection, normalization and aggregation of indicators, c) the categorization of impacts, d) the consideration of global or local data and e) the stakeholders to consider [4]. These issues are problematic, because they not only do they hamper comparability and achievement of consensus, but also create a potential risk of deviation from the original social and environmental missions in order to satisfy various stakeholder needs [38].…”

“…Consequently, companies have developed sustainable activities to contribute to the non-financial impact of the private sector, reporting social and environmental results in addition to their economic results. Thus, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of some routes to positive impact in financial sector firms, potentially helping to overcome a still relatively scarce implementation of impact assessment methods [4], partially resulting from the absence of consensus in both academics' and practitioners' spheres [5].…”