B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2022 |
Outros Autores: | , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/20515 |
Resumo: | Currently, certification is an essential tool for a company’s sustainability and a seal of trust for the stakeholders. The B Corporation (B Corp) certification system is in line with the leading indicators of sustainable development and social responsibility published by the general assembly of the United Nations, namely: environment, community, workers, customers, and governance. Nevertheless, it is essential that academic research should empirically assess the B Corp model’s reliability for its validation and legitimization. In this study, we address the results of the B Impact Assessment of 2262 companies certified by B Corp from the beginning of 2017 to March 2021. The main objective is to analyze the B Impact Assessment, verifying the robustness and consistency of the model to measure and improve the economic, social, and environmental impact of companies. We analyzed the construct’s validity through a confirmatory factorial analysis using AMOS statistical software. The results allowed us to identify some weaknesses and limitations of the B Impact Assessment. This certification system reflects an unadjusted model where the main assessment indicators have problems with regard to the measurement scale. The governance and customer indicators are the most vulnerable. The findings also allow us to state that there are apparently no minimum values established for each of the parameters evaluated, which may cause imbalances in the sustainable development process of B Corp companies. This research contributes to enhancing B Impact Assessment as a sustainability tool, highlighting areas for improvement concerning the indicators’ measurement scales and the assessment process, including the monitoring of evaluators. |
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B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification ModelB Impact AssessmentCertified B CorpSustainabilityConfirmatory factorial analysis (CFA)Currently, certification is an essential tool for a company’s sustainability and a seal of trust for the stakeholders. The B Corporation (B Corp) certification system is in line with the leading indicators of sustainable development and social responsibility published by the general assembly of the United Nations, namely: environment, community, workers, customers, and governance. Nevertheless, it is essential that academic research should empirically assess the B Corp model’s reliability for its validation and legitimization. In this study, we address the results of the B Impact Assessment of 2262 companies certified by B Corp from the beginning of 2017 to March 2021. The main objective is to analyze the B Impact Assessment, verifying the robustness and consistency of the model to measure and improve the economic, social, and environmental impact of companies. We analyzed the construct’s validity through a confirmatory factorial analysis using AMOS statistical software. The results allowed us to identify some weaknesses and limitations of the B Impact Assessment. This certification system reflects an unadjusted model where the main assessment indicators have problems with regard to the measurement scale. The governance and customer indicators are the most vulnerable. The findings also allow us to state that there are apparently no minimum values established for each of the parameters evaluated, which may cause imbalances in the sustainable development process of B Corp companies. This research contributes to enhancing B Impact Assessment as a sustainability tool, highlighting areas for improvement concerning the indicators’ measurement scales and the assessment process, including the monitoring of evaluators.The work of the author Vanda Lima is supported by national funds, through the FCT— Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04728/2020.MDPIRepositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do PortoSilva, VítorLima, VandaSá, José CarlosFonseca, LuísSantos, Gilberto2022-05-13T09:50:56Z2022-05-062022-05-06T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdftext/plain; charset=utf-8http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/20515eng10.3390/su14095590info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-03-13T13:16:00Zoai:recipp.ipp.pt:10400.22/20515Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T17:40:33.694484Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
title |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
spellingShingle |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model Silva, Vítor B Impact Assessment Certified B Corp Sustainability Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) |
title_short |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
title_full |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
title_fullStr |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
title_full_unstemmed |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
title_sort |
B Impact Assessment as a Sustainable Tool: Analysis of the Certification Model |
author |
Silva, Vítor |
author_facet |
Silva, Vítor Lima, Vanda Sá, José Carlos Fonseca, Luís Santos, Gilberto |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Lima, Vanda Sá, José Carlos Fonseca, Luís Santos, Gilberto |
author2_role |
author author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Silva, Vítor Lima, Vanda Sá, José Carlos Fonseca, Luís Santos, Gilberto |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
B Impact Assessment Certified B Corp Sustainability Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) |
topic |
B Impact Assessment Certified B Corp Sustainability Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) |
description |
Currently, certification is an essential tool for a company’s sustainability and a seal of trust for the stakeholders. The B Corporation (B Corp) certification system is in line with the leading indicators of sustainable development and social responsibility published by the general assembly of the United Nations, namely: environment, community, workers, customers, and governance. Nevertheless, it is essential that academic research should empirically assess the B Corp model’s reliability for its validation and legitimization. In this study, we address the results of the B Impact Assessment of 2262 companies certified by B Corp from the beginning of 2017 to March 2021. The main objective is to analyze the B Impact Assessment, verifying the robustness and consistency of the model to measure and improve the economic, social, and environmental impact of companies. We analyzed the construct’s validity through a confirmatory factorial analysis using AMOS statistical software. The results allowed us to identify some weaknesses and limitations of the B Impact Assessment. This certification system reflects an unadjusted model where the main assessment indicators have problems with regard to the measurement scale. The governance and customer indicators are the most vulnerable. The findings also allow us to state that there are apparently no minimum values established for each of the parameters evaluated, which may cause imbalances in the sustainable development process of B Corp companies. This research contributes to enhancing B Impact Assessment as a sustainability tool, highlighting areas for improvement concerning the indicators’ measurement scales and the assessment process, including the monitoring of evaluators. |
publishDate |
2022 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2022-05-13T09:50:56Z 2022-05-06 2022-05-06T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/20515 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/20515 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
10.3390/su14095590 |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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openAccess |
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application/pdf text/plain; charset=utf-8 |
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MDPI |
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MDPI |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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