The Impact of Addressing Social Issues on Sustainability Initiatives of Certified B Corporations
Current sustainability research, whether focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), tend to prioritize a company’s urgent need to address environmental issues. At the same time, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risk Report 20th edition states that 6 (arguably 8) out of the top 10 short term global risks are directly related to societal or geopolitical issues. (Atkinson et al., 2025) This points to a clear need to effectively integrate social issues into sustainability initiatives. How companies are addressing social issues, or social sustainability, tend to be neglected in academic discourse and in practice. (Missimer & Mesquita, 2022) This neglected element of sustainability might just be what’s missing in order to anchor systems thinking into a company’s sustainability agenda.
Certified B Corporations (B Corp) are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications for businesses, the B Corp certification process is unique in its ability to measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact. (B Corporation1, 2025) B Corps demonstrate how they are addressing social issues through measurement of the impact a company has on its Workers, Customers, Suppliers, and the Community in which it operates. This emphasis on social issues underscores the company’s dedication towards the “people” element of the triple bottom line approach. Understanding how social issues are being addressed by B Corps, and how these social issues impact their sustainability efforts will fill an important gap in sustainability research which tends to place more emphasis on environmental issues.
Aims
While current research has a tendency to view sustainability with an environmental lens, equally important social issues must be addressed by researchers. More specifically, how the sustainability agenda of a B Corp is impacted by addressing social issues. The aim of this research is to identify the types of social issues being addressed by Swiss B Corps, how these social issues are connected with the environmental issues addressed by the B Corps, and how addressing these social issues impacts the B Corps overall sustainability agenda.
Objectives
The objectives of this research are to study how certified B Corps are addressing social issues, and to analyze the impact that addressing these social issues has on their overall sustainability agenda. A focus on social issues will highlight the company’s efforts towards the “people” element of the triple bottom line approach, complementing current sustainability research which highlights environmental concerns. A focus on social issues will provide a more systemic view of sustainability initiatives. Findings can be applied as a guide to shift a company’s culture towards sustainability.
Justification
A great deal of research can be found on forming strategic sustainability initiatives, or on frameworks for making Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDG’s) core business. (De Almeida et al., 2023) Current sustainability research, whether focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), tend to prioritize a company’s urgent need to address environmental issues. At the same time, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risk Report 20th edition states that 6 out of the top 10 short term global risks are directly related to societal or geopolitical issues. Two additional topics attributed to technology are related to misinformation or disinformation and cyber espionage and/or warfare. These two issues can be viewed as an output of social action, which shows that 8 out of the 10 most pressing short term global risks are related to social issues. (Atkinson et al., 2025)
Certified B Corps demonstrate maturity in addressing social issues through the use of the B Impact Assessment (BIA). The BIA is a digital tool that can help measure, manage, and improve positive impact performance for environment, communities, customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders. The objective is to receive a minimum verified score of 80 points on the assessment as the first step towards B Corp Certification. (B Corporation2, 2025) This group of nearly 10,000 companies who apply the triple bottom line approach have a wealth of experience on how social issues can be integrated into sustainability initiatives.
With a clear need to integrate social issues into sustainability initiatives, little research exists on how companies are accomplishing this integration. Using the B Corp community as a data source for the integration of social issues has two advantages. First, this will address the current gap in research on the impact of social issues on sustainability initiatives and second, it will contribute to the incipient field of research on certified B Corps. (Diez-Busto et al., 2021)
Review of Literature
In 2015, United Nations Member States committed to the “ambitious but achievable 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, charting a new path of balance for humanity and the planet.” (Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary-General, 2019) Since this commitment was made progress towards the 17 SDG’s has been slow, putting the 2030 deadline at risk. (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023) Even with significant research on the creation of sustainable strategies aligned to the 17 SDG’s and the benefits of a sustainable business, progress has fallen short in achieving the necessary results. While only 3 of the 17SDG’s directly address issues related to the environment, “key subject categories such as “environmental sciences,” “green & sustainable science technology,” “environmental engineering,” and “civil engineering” have had considerable influence on the structure and development of sustainability research.” (Olawumi & Chan, 2018) Increased focus on social issues that address the remaining 14 SDG’s will help to uncover systemic solutions to our systemic problems.
Current academic research on sustainability is concentrated on the environmental aspects of sustainability. Additionally, much of this research remains embedded in “traditional reductionist thinking and masks the complexities and dynamics of wicked problems.” (Grewatsch et al., 2023) This points to businesses failing to link social, environmental, and economic issues together as a system to be improved:
If a society is indeed committed to sustainability – the equally legitimate social and cultural needs ought to be taken care of as well. The main reasons for this unequal treatment of the three pillars are that such equality doesn’t exist in the real world, that economic arguments often tend to be more convincing, and that the equal ranking of priorities is rarely an issue in the political context. (Littig & Griessler, 2005)
Identifying and exploiting the connections between social, economic, and environmental issues will improve the overall effectiveness of a company’s sustainability agenda. “The interdependence between the very basic aspects of people, profit, and planet is where we must focus in order to improve.” (Marquis, 2020) To emphasize the importance of interdependence in a B Corp’s sustainability agenda, each B Corp signs the Declaration of interdependence as described in Table 1. (B Corporation1, 2025)
Table 1: B Corporation Declaration of Interdependence
As Certified B Corporations and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe:
- That we must be the change we seek in the world.
- That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
- That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
- To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.
B Corps, through the use of the BIA, demonstrate commitment to improving their social, environmental, and economic performance. Increasing research on the B Corp movement shows that it is an “incipient field with great potential.” (Diez-Busto et al., 2021) With more than 18 years of experience building business based on interdependence, the B Corp community offers a wealth of experience in the application of systems thinking towards sustainability. There are 5 impact areas in the BIA; Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. The BIA tool offers a series of questions with an incremental scale of responses which act as a gage for a company’s level of maturity in a particular element, providing a standardized measure of how a company performs on social issues.
The tool also highlights systemic implications of the BIA elements via 24 Impact Business Models (IBM). This approach allows companies to leverage the systemic nature of their sustainability agenda, and highlight the interdependence of actions along their journey. Of these 24 IBM’s, only 6 address environmental issues. The remaining 19 IBM’s focus on a company’s social impact whether through its product offerings, its impact on employees and the communities in which it operates, or its civic engagement. A description of each IBM can be found in Table 2. (B Corporation3, 2025) This serves as an indication that the BIA can be a powerful tool to extract the links between social issues and sustainable business practices.
Table 2: Impact Business Models Linkage to Business Impact Assessment
| Category | Impact Business Model | Description |
| Workers | Worker Owned | Recognizes distributive ownership models that empower employees, including cooperatives and ESOPs |
| Workforce Development | Recognizes providing quality jobs and job training for chronically underemployed populations | |
| Community | Supply Chain Poverty Alleviation | Recognizes supply chain strategies that reduce poverty through trade terms, positive labor conditions, and support for underserved suppliers |
| Micro-Enterprise Poverty Alleviation | Recognizes micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for underserved individuals via franchising or product distribution | |
| Local Economic Development (Developed Markets) | Recognizes strategies to strengthen local economies through procurement, ownership, banking, customers, and charitable giving | |
| National Economic Development (Emerging Markets) | Recognizes strategies to strengthen national economic development via privatization or import substitution in underdeveloped markets | |
| Producer Cooperative | Recognizes supplier-owned structures that empower suppliers by organizing production, decision-making, and profit distribution | |
| Designed to Give (Charitable Giving) | Recognizes standing commitments to provide significant portions of company profits, revenue, equity, or time to charitable causes | |
| Governance | Mission Locked | Recognizes companies that protect their mission and ability to formally consider stakeholders in decision-making through their corporate structure or corporate governing documents |
| Environment | Renewable/Cleaner Burning Energy | Recognizes products/services that reduce GHG emissions through the provision of renewable or cleaner-burning energy |
| Resource Conservation (Reduces Waste and Energy/Water Efficiency) | Recognizes products/services that reduce resource use and/or limit waste to landfill | |
| Land/Wildlife Conservation | Recognizes products/services that preserve or restore natural environments and/or protect animals | |
| Toxin Reduction/ Remediation | Recognizes products/services that reduce or remediate toxins or pollution | |
| Environmental Information and Education | Recognizes products/services that promote awareness about important environmental issues and facilitate conservation | |
| Environmental Innovative Process (Manufacturing, Wholesale, Ag) | Recognizes comprehensive environmental practices that redesign traditional processes to conserve natural resources | |
| Customers | Basic Services for the Underserved | Recognizes products/services that provide or assist in the provision of fundamental basic services to individuals without prior access |
| Economic Empowerment for the Underserved | Recognizes products/services that provide or assist in the provision of income-generating activities for underserved individuals | |
| Health and Wellness | Recognizes products/services that promote the health and wellness of individuals | |
| Education | Recognizes products/services that enhance the skills and knowledge of individuals | |
| Support for Underserved/Purpose Driven Enterprises | Recognizes products/services that enable the financial or operational success of businesses that are purpose-driven or underserved | |
| Impact Improvement | Recognizes products/services that drive positive changes in organizations to improve their social or environmental impact | |
| Arts, Media, & Culture | Recognizes products/services that promote or preserve artistic, cultural, or civic engagement | |
| Infrastructure/ Market Access Building | Recognizes products/services that provide necessary infrastructure to communities that were previously inaccessible | |
| Serving In Need Populations | Recognizes social product models that are targeted to or benefit traditionally in need and underserved populations |
“While reductionist thinking examines parts to understand the whole, systems thinking considers the context in which parts are embedded.” (Grewatsch et al., 2023) This context exists as a result of interactions of elements within a system. “Systems thinking, with underlying dimensions of perspective, problem solving, connectivity, and dynamic complexity, enables a comprehensive understanding of the interdependencies between a firm and its socio–ecological environment”. (Schulte & Paris, 2024) One important element in this system is human interaction, more specifically the actions of humans and the impacts of these systems on humans. The human element of sustainability could be viewed as the primary, and unpredictable method of communication amongst systems. For example, social-ecological systems thinking (SES) attempts to understand cross-scale dynamics of social practices and ecosystems in order to provide a useful lens for analyzing sustainability challenges. (Ahlström et al., 2020) In order to shift from reductionist thinking to systems thinking, we must better understand this unpredictable human behaviour that proves vital to a working system.
The observed behaviours within an organization underpin the good intentions and espoused SDG commitments, anchoring them within the company’s culture. Certain behaviours such as organizational citizenship behaviours for the environment (OCBE’s) (Boiral & Paillé, 2012) or even employee green behaviours (EGB’s) (Ones et al., 2018) which relate directly to employee behaviours have been studied, and are well documented. Both OCBE’s and EGB’s define explicit behaviours found in companies where sustainability is linked to the company’s purpose. There is also significant research on strategic initiatives, as well as frameworks on how to make SDG’s Core Business. (De Almeida et al., 2023) However, there is little research on behaviours linked to social issues addressed by companies. General beliefs, values, attitudes, habits, assumed lifestyles or even meaning systems projecting purpose on one’s own life have an impact on sustainability as well. (Lumbreras et al., 2021) Further research on how social issues are addressed will complement current research on strategic frameworks by linking action to the common beliefs and attitudes of the company. For example, when considering the role of a “change agent for sustainability” (CAS), little is known about how individual characteristics shape their work. (Schaltegger et al., 2024) Additionally, there is increasing evidence that current economic models and practices do not guarantee long-lasting societal and human wellbeing. (Missimer & Mesquita, 2022) This points to the behaviours which enable or constrain sustainability initiatives. Once we are able to articulate behaviours expected in the new economy, we will better understand how SDGs are important, and how they can ensure our sustainable future.
Research Question
What types of social issues are being addressed by certified B Corporations, and how does addressing these issues impact their sustainability initiatives?
Methodology
My dissertation work will consist of a bundle of 3 research papers. The first research paper will be an analysis of the social issues being addressed by certified B Corps in Switzerland. I will conduct interviews, surveys, and wherever possible, validate against BIA criteria on the Governance, Workers, Community, and Customers Impact areas. The intention will be to identify a typology of social issues addressed by the sample of B Corps that result in high social performance measured by the BIA.
The second paper will look further into these social issues, how they link to the company’s purpose, and how they complement other sustainability activity within the organization. I will conduct interviews with specific B Corps who demonstrate exceptional performance in each of the 4 chosen impact areas with the intention to extract specific actions that enable social performance. These specific actions will help define how B corps are successful, how they contribute to interdependence, and how they continue to improve.
The third paper will build on the results of the second paper, with the intent to apply a systems thinking approach to the findings in the first papers and investigate linkages between social, environmental, and economic issues. This resulting map will align corresponding actions, beliefs, and attitudes so that behaviours can be easily identified. This final paper can be used as a roadmap to identify the sustainability behaviours of a company. These behaviours can also be used as a “maturity gage” to quantify progress of a company’s sustainability agenda.
The methodology employed in this research will be based on a constructivism ontology and an interpretivism epistemology, therefore research will be carried out using qualitative methods. The timeframe for research will be short-term cross-sectional. Data will be gathered using an inductive research approach as I am active in the BCorp community and have access to this network of companies. The research methodology will include surveys, interviews, focus groups and other qualitative methods deemed relevant as research progresses. Samples will be taken from nearly 150 Swiss B Corporations and a sample will be selected based on their high BIA scores in the elements addressing social issues.
Data will be gathered through interviews, focus groups, and the Blab data.world database. This data will be collected based on the needs of the research. Initially, data on social issues addressed by BCorp’s will be gathered through interviews and surveys. Subsequent data will be gathered through focus groups, as well as specific interviews as required. Data in the data.world database will be used to highlight social issues addressed from a global perspective, should this detail prove relevant.
The benefits of this research will help to bridge the gap from reductionist, linear thinking to a more holistic systems thinking approach to wicked problems. This research is focused on the areas of sustainability that are “messy”. We could also describe the area of interest as the “grey zone”. This is the area in an organization where two systems overlap and the success of the system depends on the willingness of the people to manage the unclear responsibilities which lie within the “grey zone”.
One drawback of this research is that it attempts to address a very broad and complex issue. Converting research on such a broad issue will offer challenges in managing the data collection and measuring in a way to deliver relevant results. Another drawback is the “soft” nature of the data that will be gathered. Attention must be paid when interpreting results so as to avoid bias from the researcher.
Approach to Data Analysis
Data will be validated through member checking and expert checking for accuracy and interpretation, exploring rival explanations, and analyzing negative cases that contradict the analysis. Data will be openly shared, including interpretations that have been validated by participants. External reliability can be assured through replication of data collection in other ecosystems outside Switzerland or the B Corp community. Internal reliability will be improved by conducting multiple interviews within the Swiss B Corp community.
Work Schedule
- Literature review: 12 September 2025
- First Paper ready for submission: 31 December 2025
- Dissertation Proposal: 27 February 2026
- Second paper ready for submission: 31 December 2026
- Thesis Submission: 31 October 2027
- Third paper ready for submission: 31 October 2027
Personal Motivation
As a strong advocate for the B Corp movement, and more specifically the triple bottom line approach, I believe a balance between social, environmental, and economic business performance is obligatory to ensure our sustainable future. Much of the research on sustainability is directed towards the importance of strategic and organizational changes, and many companies focus primarily on their environmental impact. While companies work hard to measure and report progress on environmental issues meant to preserve humanity, they seem to have forgotten to consider their impact on the people who make up “humanity”. The people element of the triple bottom line needs more of our attention.
Certified B Corps are leading the way towards a sustainable future. Obtaining the B Corp certification requires a balanced focus on people, planet, and profit. With nearly 10,000 certified B Corps around the world, there are many examples linking people to performance. Yet within this community of companies who put people, planet, and profit of equal importance, we need more discussion on how we can address social issues as part of our sustainable agenda. I intend to bring these experiences together to form a clear understanding of how a focus on social issues can help shift a company’s culture towards sustainability.
Over the past 10 years, I have built my version of a sustainable business. I have witnessed first-hand how the “way we’ve always done it” can impede a new way of working. Business as usual has not addressed important social issues for our sustainable future, and the behaviours we have accepted until now are holding us back. I intend to define the behaviours we expect from our colleagues, customers, suppliers, and shareholders to enable our sustainable future. This work will contribute to knowledge on how companies address social issues enabling their sustainable future, while delivering the results they desire and encouraging the needed societal change. Leveraging the DNA of sustainability by considering people, planet, and profit of equal importance is obligatory. After all, we only have everything to lose.
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