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Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , Mandatory ambiguity: a hybrid human–AI analysis of impact reporting by benefit corporationsGovernments worldwide have increasingly established new legal forms intended to empower and govern hybrid organizations’ dual pursuit of economic and social value. Mandatory impact reporting is a centerpiece of these legal innovations, yet little is known about how hybrid organizations navigate the often-ambiguous reporting requirements these laws stipulate. Drawing on a unique dataset of all mandatory impact reports filed from 2016 to 2024 by the population of benefit corporations incorporated in Minnesota, we introduce a novel, human-derived scale of benefit report quality, encompassing five dimensions. Developing and applying a rubric-guided LLM scoring protocol to rate each report against the scale, we find that third-party certification by B Lab increases both the length and quality of benefit reports, thereby revealing a nuanced interdependence between state and private regulation. Our study highlights the limits and possibilities of mandatory disclosure regimes within hybrid legal forms while demonstrating the potential of rubric-guided LLMs to enhance content analysis.Publicationtype: Journal Article17 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , The tasks and traps of sustainability certification organizationsAlthough sustainability certifications are widespread, the challenges confronting the sustainability certification organizations (SCOs) who develop, promote and administer such certifications have received less attention. We argue that SCOs face three task domains: legitimacy management, organizational learning, and stakeholder engagement. Critically, these domains are interdependent; a preoccupation with one domain poses limitations on the others. First, an emphasis on legitimacy management can inhibit organizational learning, leading to the advocacy trap. Second, an emphasis on stakeholder engagement can inhibit learning processes, leading to the inertia trap. Third, an emphasis on legitimacy management can inhibit stakeholder engagement, leading to the mobilization trap. Collectively, these challenges constitute the trap triangle. Building on our theoretical model, we develop propositions about how SCOs fall into these traps and how they can overcome them. Finally, recognizing SCOs vary in terms of their movement, market or mission orientations leads to propositions about the traps each type of SCO is most likely to fall into. We close the article by discussing our contributions to the literature on sustainability certifications and environmental governance.Publicationtype: Conference Presentation32 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , The tasks and traps of sustainability certification organizations(2025-06); Although sustainability certifications are widespread, the challenges confronting the sustainability certification organizations (SCOs) who develop, promote and administer such certifications have received less attention. We argue that SCOs face three task domains: legitimacy management, organizational learning, and stakeholder engagement. Critically, these domains are interdependent; a preoccupation with one domain poses limitations on the others. First, an emphasis on legitimacy management can inhibit organizational learning, leading to the advocacy trap. Second, an emphasis on stakeholder engagement can inhibit learning processes, leading to the inertia trap. Third, an emphasis on legitimacy management can inhibit stakeholder engagement, leading to the mobilization trap. Collectively, these challenges constitute the trap triangle. Building on our theoretical model, we develop propositions about how SCOs fall into these traps and how they can overcome them. Finally, recognizing SCOs vary in terms of their movement, market or mission orientations leads to propositions about the traps each type of SCO is most likely to fall into. We close the article by discussing our contributions to the literature on sustainability certifications and environmental governance.Publicationtype: Conference Presentation23