The Impact of B Lab Certification on Firm Growth

Parker, Simon C.; Gamble, Edward N.; Moroz, Peter W.; Branzei, Oana

doi:10.5465/amd.2017.0068

Cited by 60 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Some support for this notion comes from the further empirical finding that B Lab's B scores are not strongly correlated with SEMI scores. As well as confirming the value of the SEMI as a distinct measure -which captures a potentially useful source of information which is separate from B scores -this finding suggests that many organizations that lack integrated business models and are doing a form of CSR may nevertheless be able to gain external kudos from third-party certifications (Parker et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…One is that the B scores from B Lab, although a relevant and increasingly popular metric for measuring social performance of B Corps, are not well-suited to help audiences evaluate the extent to which social and environmental missions are integrated with financial aspects of business models. Another is that even among B Corps, which are believed to care about social and environmental issues so strongly that they are willing to incur substantial costs to obtain certification (Parker et al, 2018), most firms have non-integrated business models. This outcome is less pronounced among B Corps with an 'outward-facing' focus on environmental and community issues -as well as among younger B…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring the Integration of Social and Environmental Missions in Hybrid Organizations

2019

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This paper introduces a new typology and associated measure of social and environmental mission integration (SEMI) by conceptually framing a feature of hybrid organizations-the degree of integration of their revenue model and social-environmental mission. The SEMI measure is illustrated using a hand-collected sample of 256 North American Certified B Corporations. We explore the heterogeneity of SEMI scores by identifying external-facing correlates and demonstrate non-congruence with Certified B Corporation's audit results. Overall, these finding advance our knowledge of hybrid organizations and how they balance their socialenvironmental missions with their economic objectives.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Integration of Social and Environmental Missions in Hybrid Organizations

2019

Self Cite

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“…The extensive adoption of BIA was easily predictable because of the logical (even though not formal) relationship between being a BCs and the certification B Corp, and several analyzed BCs were certified B Corps. However, as underlined by previous literature, the BIA use alone was not a guarantee of neither the quality of external communication [103] nor the sustainable growth of the company [104,105], even though other studies-such as this by Gazzola and colleagues [106]-underlined the significance of BIA for the social and financial performance of BCs.…”

Section: Year Of Competencementioning

confidence: 97%

Organizations with Impact? A Study on Italian Benefit Corporations Reporting Practices and Reporting Quality

Mion

2020

Sustainability

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Benefit Corporations (BCs) were introduced in Italy by Law 28-12-2015 N. 208 based on the previous experience of the USA. BCs are hybrid organizations with a blended economic and social/environmental purpose and aim to generate a positive impact on employees, environment, communities, and other stakeholders in addition to profit-making. For BCs, accountability is crucial to achieve social legitimacy and to prove their positive impact on society. Italian BCs are obliged to prepare and publish a yearly impact report. The present research aimed to explore the impact reporting practices of Italian BCs and to evaluate the quality of the published reports. 47 impact reports were collected from 192 websites, and a qualitative content analysis was performed on these reports. Furthermore, an evaluation instrument was built to measure impact reporting quality and to understand which determinants affected the reporting quality. The study allowed understanding that impact reporting practice was at a very early stage of evolution. Furthermore, the analysis focused on the importance of an external standard for promoting reporting quality. The findings of the study contributed to the existing literature on BCs and on reporting quality and allowed some practical implications for managers, policymakers, and standard setters.

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“…This could have a negative impact on some companies' short-run growth, mainly in those which are smaller and younger, suffer from a lack of resources or have an immature organizational structure [71,72]. Other researchers have also observed a decline in the growth of the certified firms that is more noticeable in younger and smaller companies [73].…”

Section: Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2020

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The objective of this study is to explore empirically the dimensions that generate high impact in the finance industry to better understand its contribution from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) perspective. We analyze data concerning impacts of finance sector firms certified by B Corp in order to identify the combinations that are necessary and/or sufficient to obtain a recognition of their high impact generation. The methodology followed to identify the impact dimensions is fsQCA, (fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis), a qualitative comparative analysis method applied to a sample of finance firms (n-181). The results indicate that financial sector firms exhibited four combinations focusing on different impact dimensions. Specifically, the first route indicates that a high degree of focus on customers and communities is sufficient to obtain a high impact score. The second path signals that the combination of the impacts on customers and corporate governance could lead to the same result, while in the third pathway the focus would be on the employees. Finally, the fourth route indicates that some financial firms focus strongly on their communities, corporate governance and their employees, but very weakly on the environmental dimension. Consequently, diverse combinations of CSR dimensions characterize financial sector contributions to impact generation and sustainable development.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2395 2 of 17 particular, the finance industry, related to their corporate sustainability strategies [7]. Thereby, as B Corp firms gain recognition for their high impact on their CSR dimensions, this also represents an opportunity to balance their business activities in order to pursue financial, social and environmental positive contributions [8]. Furthermore, as companies can create an impact in several ways, it is useful for academics and practitioners to analyze the different routes followed by companies in the finance sector certified as high-impact firms, showing which dimensions are relevant for firms. Moreover, to explore these dimensions, we analyze the literature concerning impacts in the finance sector, which has shown an increasing interest in CSR and sustainable development in recent years [9].Therefore, this study aims to study the necessary and/or sufficient combinations of dimensions for the finance industry, in order for them to be recognized for their high impact generation using the B Corp dimensions. The methodology followed was fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), and we analyzed the impact of B-Corp dimensions in a sample based on financial sector firms (n=181) in the B-Corp 2018 database, which includes the scores resulting from the certification process of these firms related to the five dimensions. This exploratory study is the first study analyzing the B Corp database with the fsQCA method, which facilitates the identification of causal relationships within the results [10]. Moreover, it provides useful information for strategic decisions of companies regardin...

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The Impact of B Lab Certification on Firm Growth

Cited by 60 publications

References 39 publications

Measuring the Integration of Social and Environmental Missions in Hybrid Organizations

Measuring the Integration of Social and Environmental Missions in Hybrid Organizations

Organizations with Impact? A Study on Italian Benefit Corporations Reporting Practices and Reporting Quality

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

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