Social impact certifications

: the effect of B Corp on social enterprises

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to understand how the certification B Corp issued by the non profit organization B Lab can support social enterprises in growing their impact and business and how being certified with B Corp affects the behavior of consumers. In order to answer the established research questions a mixed-methods research approach was developed, consisting of qualitative expert interviews and a quantitative web-based consumer survey. The analysis of the results showed that becoming B Corp certified is associated with various opportunities like improved hiring, talent retention and investor relations, access to a large, benevolent community as well as a comprehensive guideline to build a socially and environmentally sustainable business. Moreover, existing prejudices like unhealthy time commitment and process complicatedness could be attenuated. Additionally, it was found out that B Corp can positively influence the perceived brand reliability and trustworthiness of a certified social enterprise. However, a significant positive relationship between becoming B Corp certified and the consumers’ purchase intention could not be confirmed.

Date of Award	17 Oct 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Marta Bicho (Supervisor)