Ethnographic research study

A multi-sited ethnographic analysis of 15 B Corp-certified companies, examining the practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and impacts on workers.

Objectives

This study ethnographically documented the experiences and perspectives of people who work at or with B Corp-certified companies. B Corp certification requires that businesses operate in materially different ways than traditional businesses. My research investigated what kinds of policies and structures B Corp-certified companies have developed to address sustainability and equity objectives, and how those policies and structures are understood and implemented by workers and executives at those companies. 

Ultimately, the goal of this research was to provide empirical knowledge of what “a revised capitalism” means for workers.

My primary questions were:

  • What types of policies and structures have been developed by B-Corp-certified companies in Colorado to address sustainability and equity objectives?

  • How are these policies, structures, and objectives understood by workers and executives at these companies, and to what extent might they inform workers' and executives’ attitudes and behaviors?

  • How is the discourse produced by B Labs different or similar to the experiences and discourse produced by workers?

Background & significance

Two of the most striking characteristics of contemporary life are extreme income inequality and profound environmental degradation. Currently, 32% of net worth is held by 1% of the population (Fed 2022). Greenhouse gas emissions produced by corporations are one of the main contributors to climate change (EPA  2022). Critics have pointed to a lack of government oversight and corporate logic prioritizing shareholder profitability and limitless growth as key factors contributing to both income inequality and climate change. 

The B Corp movement, founded in the early 2000s by Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy, proposes a new, and potentially less environmentally and socially damaging way of doing business. Calling into question the ethics and sustainability of an industry-oriented towards the “relentless pursuit of profits” (Marquis 2020: 19), the three founders developed a certification process for businesses that met a set of standards including “ high social and environmental performance,” a corporate governance structure “accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders,” and the publication of how “their performance measured against B Lab’s standards” on the B Lab’s website (B Corporation 2023). 

Since the certification process began, over 6,300 companies in 85 countries have become B Corp certified. 2,000 of those companies are in the U.S. and Canada (B Lab, 2023). Business scholars have seen great promise in this model, including Christopher Marquis, who has argued that “this new version of business and the economy can provide the foundation for a better, more equitable and sustainable form of capitalism” (2020: 9). However, despite these optimistic assessments, there have been few in-depth ethnographic studies of how employees and managers of B Corp certified companies understand and experience these standards on a day-to-day basis. My research addressed this gap.

Research design

  • Focus groups

    Multiple in-person focus groups were held exclusivelw ith employees of B Corp-certified companies.

  • Semi-structured interviews

    50 interviews conducted with B Corp employees, leadership, B Local volunteers, and B Lab employees.

  • Participant observation

    Participant observation was conducted in offices of participating companies and at local community events.

Research findings

Expanded corporate responsibilities are key to how employees understand their work at B Corp companies

My participants appreciated the move by businesses in their stated commitment to more than just profit. The companies in my study suggested that they had an expanded set of responsibilities to not only profit, but also to employees, the environment, communities, etc. These expanded responsibilities were referred to as either double bottom line or triple bottom line accountability and the expanded consideration, beyond profit, offered workers at B Corps the option to forgo the possibility of high margins in order to operate in alignment with the company’s mission.

Honesty and transparency gave workers a sense of morality and agency

The other characteristic of business the right way is honesty. For the workers I interviewed, a moral corporation embodies honesty through corporate transparency practices. Some of these practices include having open books where employees can see all of the finances and pay information for the company. Equal pay was also valued as a result of the open book policies and then the collective decision-making that comes with the process of corporate transparency for many of the companies in my study provides my participants with a sense of control and ownership over company decisions.

The certification transforms businesses into ethical corporate forms

According to my subjects the component that is most powerful in the formation of business ethics at B Corps is the BIA and the resulting certification. The outcome and certification of the BIA is understood as social fact. The role of B Lab and their work to audit the assessments strengthens the power of the certification. The resulting score, leverages the power of valuing different objects and practices with a common metric that transforms business practices into a measure of goodness.

B Corps are still ruled by the profit-motive. The exceptions I found are companies that have an alternative governance model.

My research found that most B Corps prioritize profit and growth. Many business managers in my study overworked their employees, conducted mass layoffs, and overpaid their leadership team. All but two of the companies still prioritized profit over all else. The B Corps where I found a genuine commitment to balancing profit, planet, and people didn’t do so because they were certified, but because they had adopted alternative business models like employee ownership and governance.

✺ Solutions to create more equitable and sustainable business ✺

  • What I found to truly transform employees' work experience and support a more equitable and sustainable business environment was alternative business models—specifically ESOPs and worker cooperatives. These models need to be considered and adopted more broadly. To support that business schools need to incorporate them more fully into their curriculum and governments need to make it easier to establish these models.

  • Many leaders in the companies I studied wanted to operate differently but they were still competing against less responsible, profit-focused competitors, which hamstrung meaningful transformation of business practices.

  • The mission of B Lab is to “create a more just future for all people and the planet” but I’m not sure what their goal is - whether they are setting out to convert a large portion of corporations to B Corp-certified status or simply reward a small community of companies. Because B Corp has not adequately defined what their certification should do, their outcomes can be problematic. The ability for profit-centered companies to be certified provides the room for businesses to maintain status quo corporate operations under the cloak of goodness.

  • Businesses trying to operate more equitably and sustainably should be more concretely rewarded by B Lab and the government. Revolutionary business models should be more rewarded in the BIA and the Federal and state governments should incentivize businesses to adopt shared ownership models.