Non-economic Performance of Benefit Corporations: A Variance Decomposition Approach

Pankaj C. Patel () and C. S. Richard Chan ()
Additional contact information
Pankaj C. Patel: Villanova School of Business, Villanova University
C. S. Richard Chan: Stony Brook University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, vol. 178, issue 2, No 4, 355-376

Abstract: Abstract Drawing on evolutionary realism as a guiding framework and using relevant theoretical bases at macro- (country-), meso- (industry-), and micro- (firm-) levels, we investigate the relative variance explained by each level on selection (non-economic performance) and retention (decertification) of Benefit Corporations (B-Corps). Based on a sample of 5052 observations of certified B-Corps and 1403 observations of decertified B-Corps, relative to the country and industry differences, firm-level differences explain most of the variance in non-economic performance, especially for workers and community impact areas. Industry-level differences explain small differences in customers and environmental performance while country differences do not explain meaningful performance differences. The results also show a similar pattern in relative effects for decertified B-Corps. Our findings point to the value of disaggregating the relative effects of multilevel factors in further understanding drivers of non-economic performance and the decertification of B-Corps.

Keywords: Benefit corporations; Non-economic performance; Variance decomposition; Global sample (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-021-04754-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:178:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04754-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/10551/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04754-y

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Ethics is currently edited by Michelle Greenwood and R. Edward Freeman

More articles in Journal of Business Ethics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().