Business model innovation as a window into adaptive tensions: Five paths on the B Corp journey

Abstract

The B Corporation (B Corp) audit and certification acts as a third-party signal of social purpose business model innovation. It is argued that B Corp certification helps organizations to capture value above economic gains, from activities with ethical, sustainable or moral objectives. However, the varying journeys and certification motivations of B Corps are poorly understood. In this paper we use theory related to the process of organizational design (Zott & Amit, 2010) to unpack these variations. Starting from a longitudinal data set, we employ a deductive case analysis approach of 47 B Corps to identify five certification paths: brand wagoners, reprioritizers, evangelists, inertial benchmarkers and reconfigurers. Our findings help to identify and describe distinct B Corp journeys over time. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings contribute to current theory on social purpose business model innovation, firm value characteristics and how B Corps manage competing tensions among identity and action.